
Go#righ! N" 



( cnxiciiT DEPOsrr. 



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"27 




WILLIAM M..,iM.t:v Tww mnrira Lusu 



■. iBRARY OF 
T*»o Copiet Received 

MAR 12 '903 

Copynjnt Entry 

- 
CLASS • : L XXc No, 

M 

COPY 0. 



Richardson Company 



l Reserved 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

HE following pages have been prepared with two dis- 
tinct purposes in view: first, to give a closer view 
T of a number of distinguished contemporary Ameri 
cans ; and, second, to set out, in bold relief, the 
most important elements of success, as tliey are conceived 
and attested by these eminent persoriages. There is no 
kind of reading at the same time more stimulating, more 
entertaining, and more genuinely instructive than biog- 
raphy ; especially if such biography brings us face to 
face with the most practical and vital problems and ques- 
tions of everyday life. 

The material for this work has been drawn from many 
persons and sources. For the sketch of John D. Long, 
we are especially indebted to Mrs. Mary C. Robbins ; for 
that of Cardinal Gibbons, to Rev. Charles W. Currier ; 
for that of John W. Daniel, to Mr. E. A. Herndon ; for 
that of Charles Emory Smith, to Mr. Clarence E. Daw- 
son ; for that of David Starr Jordan, to Prof. William J. 
Neidig ; for that of Henry Watterson, to Mr. Ernest L. 
Aroni ; and for that of Senator W. A. Clark, to Mr. 
Joaquin Miller. All sketches included, indeed, have been 
prepared by unusually capable writers. The instructive 
discussions of the various elements of success are almost 
as diverse in authorship as the biographies, although the 
veteran author, Mr. William M. Thayer, has been the 
largest contributor. 

It is earnestly hoped that this combination of living 
careers, coupled with wise and instructive counsel, may 
especially appeal to the youth of both sexes as well as to 
many others older in years. 



CONTENTS. 



P \ irr ONE LEADERS IN PUBLIC LIFE. 

CHAPTER I. Page 

I l| I ODORE ROOSEVl II. . . . . • • . . 25 

(iii Success Sketch of his Life — A Leader from Youth — From 
Wi tkling to Athlete Enters Public Life — Career in the Assem- 
bly Combined Writing with Hunting — -Efforts to Reform Gotham 
In the Navy Department — Leader of Rough Riders — The First 
Battle- His Triumph at Philadelphia — President. 
I M CI8IOH 01 Cum: VCTER, ........ 42 

CHAPTER II. 

William Pierce Ekyk, ........ 51 

( )n Success - - His Life and Career — At College — Enters the Pro- 
fession of tlif Law Beginnings of his Public Life — Member of the 
Paris Commission President of the Senate — His Public Service 
— Love of Outdoor Life — A Pish Story — Some Characteristics. 

The Gospel "i Health, ........ 59 

CHAPTER III. 

William Jennings Bryan, . . . . . . . 67 

Hi- Definition of Success — Boyhood — School Days' — -College 
Career In Prize Contests First Political Meeting — The Young 
Lawyer -Nebraska Politics — Elected to Congress — As Editor 
Nominated for President His Defeat — Campaign of 1!H)0 — 
The Man. 

Honesty is \n Elemeni of Success, ..... 83 



CHAPTER IV. 

John Davis Long, . . . . . . . 91 

On the Problem.of Life His Ancestry - Life in Oxford County, 
Maine At Hebron Academy College Career — As a Law Student 
The Lawyer Political Beginnings Governor of Massachusetts 
Secretary of the NTavv Personal Characteristics. 
1 Hon 1 01 Companions, ........ 104 



- 



CONTENTS. 9 

/ / CHAPTER V. PAGE 

John Warwick Daniel, HI 

/ Places Emphasis on Persevering Effort — Entrance into Political 

/ Life — A Virginia Campaign — Elected to Congress — In the 

United States Senate — As an Orator — Mental Characteristics — 

Tone of his Public Life — Relations with the People — His Ancestry 

Youth and Education — Military Career — Begins the Study of 

Law — The Lawyer — Personality. 
The Importance op Perseverance, 122 



CHAPTER VI. 



Marcus Alonzo Hanna, ........ 132 

The Key to his Success — A Typical American — Parentage — Leaves 
College and Begins Work — His Early Business Enterprises — 
Qualities as a Manager — First Meeting with William McKinley 

Tha Expansion of his Business Interests — Why he Entered 

Politics — Later Political Career — The Campaign of 1896 — A 
Convention Episode — Characteristics — Not a Boss — As an Orator 

More Characteristics — Business Methods — Attitude toward 

Labor. 
Industry, ........... 146 

CHAPTER VII. 

Charles' Emory Smith, 157 

How Successes are Achieved — Incidents of his Life Compared with 
those of the Life of Benjamin Franklin — Birthplace, Parentage and 
Education — Choice of Vocation — Early Newspaper Experience — 
Career at Union College — His- Part in the Campaign of 1860 — 
Becomes Editor of the Albany Express — Meeting with Horace 
Greeley — Editor of the Philadelphia Press — Made Minister to 
Russia — Campaigns with McKinley — His Appointment as Post- 
master-General — -Personal Characteristics — A Forceful and 
Eloquent Public Speaker — To what he Attributes his Success. 
Choosing an Occupation, ........ 168 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Charles Arnette Towne, ........ 179 

On the Qualifications that Assist Success — Some Moral and Mental 
Traits — His Early Life — School Days — College Career — First 






10 CONTENTS. 

Page 

Efforts in Politics Revolt against Machine Methods — Election to 
Congress — His Eloquent Plea on the Money Question — Leader of 
the Silver Republicans NTominated for Vice-President by the 
Populist Convention Appointment to the United States Senate 
— Retirement from Political Life. 
Oppoktunity, .......... 190 



CHAPTER IX. 

William Boyd Allison, 200 

On the Elements of Success — His Birth and Ancestry — Where 
Educated — Admitted to the Bar — Removal to Iowa — Activity in 
Local Politics — Elected to Congress — First Important Service — - 
Becomes an Authority on Public Finance — A Temperate Partisan 
in Politics — Some Characteristics. 

" " ™ 

CHAPTER X. 

I . I "l;<.l 1M WHY, 222 

/lli> Detestation of Lying — Birthplace — George Dewey's Boyhood 
First Cruise — Schooling — At the Naval Academy — Tn the Civil 
War -Afloat and Ashore — Characteristics — Manila — Personal 
Trails. 
Common Sense, 241 



CHAPTER XI. 

Aii'MM Jeremiah Beveridge, ....... 245 

On what Brings Success — His Early Struggles — How he Completed 
his College Course A Hard Worker and Brilliant Speaker in 
College — Prepares for the Bar His Rapid Rise as a Lawyer — 

Enters Public Life — Mental Characteristics — Forensic Power 

Career in Politics Electiu i to the United states Senate Philip- 
pine Speech. 

Tact 043 




CONTENTS. 11 



PART TWO— LEADERS IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 



CHAPTER NIL Pa 6e 

/Henry Watterson, ......... 259 

On the Elements of Success — His Personality — A Man of Great 
Versatility — Methods of Work — Birth and Early Surroundings — 
Education — " The New Era " — ■ Newspaper Career in New York 
— War Correspondent — Becomes Editor of the Louisville "Courier- 
Journal " — Some Difficulties Encountered — His New Policy — 
What Politics Means to him — Member of Congress — As a Public 
Speaker — Home Life — What Leads to Success in Journalism. 
Courage and Self-Confidence, ...... 269 



CHAPTER XIII. 

D/vid Starr Jordan, ......... 279 

On Purpose — Birthplace and Parentage — -Youthful Character- 
istics — In School — Love of Nature — At College — The Teacher 
and Investigator — With Agassiz at Penikese — President of Indiana 
University — Accepts the Presidency of Leland Stanford Junior 
University — In Private Life — In the Class Room — An Im- 
pressive Lecturer — His Literary Work — Sense of Humor — As a 
University President — Views on Education — Personality — Scien- 
tific Work. 
Singleness of Purpose, ......... 288 




Jam, 



\ 



CHAPTER XIV. 
/ / 

ies Cardinal Gibbons, ....... 295 

His Conception of Success — The Office of Cardinal — His Birth 
place — The Cardinal's Cathedral — Early Training— First 
Priestly Labors — Made Bishop — Attends the (Ecumenical 
Council of 1869 — At Richmond — Archbishop at Forty-three — 
Characteristics — Habits — Third Plenary Council of Baltimore — 
The Catholic University — Created Cardinal — A Well- Rounded 
Character — Home Surroundings — In Public Life. 
Duty, . .307 




12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XV. PAGE 

Ki>\\ \i.i> Everett Hale, ........ 314 

/On " What Career " - -Part in the Twentieth Century Celebration 
in Boston Divisions of his Career — As a Journalist — As a 
Christian Minister -Social Reformer — Publicist and Patriot — 
Character of His Writings — As an Educator — Antiquarian — His 
Views as to the Purposes of Life — His Uplifting Personality. 
Not Above One's Business, ....... 330 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Qosneral Lew Wallace, 336 

A Confession — His Distinguished Career — Ancestry — Incident 
in Career of His Father — Early Pranks — Ambitions — Painting 
Under Limitations — His First Literary Work — Reads Law — In 
the Mexican War — Lawyer — Military Career Renewed — Civil 
War — Literary Career — Methods of Work. 
How to Use Yourself, ........ 348 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Russell Herman Conwell, ....... 354 

How to Succeed — His Boyhood — Early Oratorical Efforts — 
Struggles for an Education — The Call to Arms — Yale College — 
Journalistic Experiences — Admitted to the Bar — Enters the 
Ministry — His First Church — Work in Philadelphia — The 
Temple College — Characteristics. 
Minding Little Things, ........ 365 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Sil^s Weir Mitchell, . . . . . . . . 369 

Observations about Successful Careers — Birthplace and Education 

— At Home — The Doctor — His Study — As a Conversationalist — 

Bric-a-B.rac -The Author — Fondness for his Native City — His 

Literary Career Literary Methods. 

*erils or Success, ......... 381 







CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER XIX. 



13 



Pagi: 
390 



Thk 




kles William Eliot, .... 

On Happiness — Two Estimates of President Eliot — His Con- 
temporaries—An Early Appreciation of his Administrative 
Abilities — As a Teacher in Harvard — Chosen President of 

Harvard — A Period of Reconstruction — The Elective System 

Some Facts and Figures — His Educational Philosophy — At 
Heart a Democrat — As an Essayist — His Influence with Students 

— A Religious Man —As an Administrator — Characteristics. 
Secret of a Happy Life, 4Qr, 

CHAPTER XX. 
JosejjA Jefferson, ....... 414 

/Success as Understood by Mr. Jefferson — His Rank among Actors 

— Blending of the Man and Actor— His Theatrical Lineage — 

Maternal Ancestry — Birthplace and Early Surroundings 

Glimpses of Jefferson in the Early Days — The Mexican War 
Period — His First Permanent Success — Tn Australia — Visits 
South America — His Career in London — Later Career His Per- 
formances of Rip Van Winkle — His Art. 

How to re Insignificant, 42 G 




433 



CHAPTER XXI. 
J(/hn Heyl Vincent, ....... 

On Success — What he Represents — Birth and Early Environment 

— His Ambitions to go to College — In Pennsylvania — At School 

— As a Teacher — Enters the Ministry — Some Early Character- 
istics — Career in the West — As an Editor — Secretary of the Sun- 
day School Union — Further Education — First Identification with 
Chautauqua — Some Chautauqua Results — President Garfield's 
Tribute — Literary Work — Home Life — Sermons — Loyalty. 

Self-Education, ...... 

CHAPTER XXII. 
James Whitcomr Riley, ...... 

A Poetic Interpretation of Success — Birthplace and Boyhood — 
A Picture of His Childhood — Early Theatrical Leanings— A 
Practical Joker — School Days — The " Leonainie " Episode Per- 
sonal Appearance — Preeminent Qualities of his Work — In What 
His Uniqueness Lies — " Poems Here at Home " — The Two Classes 
of Mr. Riley's Poetry— Asa Balladist — His Lyrics — The Poet 
of the People — Characteristically American. 
Personal Purity and Nobility, 469 



447 



455 



n CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXIII. Page 



[om v.s Br v< ke i i Reed, ..•••••• 

On the Righl Use of Wealth A Conversation Glimpses of His 
Characteristics Strength of his Personal Convictions— His Home 
How it Bespeaks the Man Favorite Club Early Environment 
an d Ancestry The Schoolmaster — At College— Habits of Read- 
ing— Journeys to California Admission to the Bar — His Return 
Easl Enters Public Life — Member of Congress— A Memorable 
Speech Speaker Readiness in Debate — Literary Side of his 
Career His Epigrams. 

Make, Save, Give all You Can," 



PART THREE-LEADERS IN BUSINESS AND 
INDUSTRIAL LIFE. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 



476 



493 



507 



Andrew Carnegie, ........ 

Mr. Carnegie on Success — His Early Boyhood in the United 
Nates His Birthplace — Ancestry — Messenger Boy — Death of 
His Father.— Learns Telegraphy — Becomes on Employee of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad — Secretary to Thomas A.Scott — A First 
[/vestment — During the Civil War — How he Became Connected 
with the Iron and Steel Industry — His Organizing Ability — A 
Magazine Episode — His Careful Method — A Great Traveler — 
His Devotion to Golf -His Benefactions — Characteristics as a 
Thinker. Writer, and Speaker — His Literary Work — A Few 
Extracts — His Personality — Secret of his Success. 
1 1<>\\ ro Si \kt ix Life, ........ 524 

CHAPTER XXV. 

M irshall Field, ......... 533 

Mr. Field on the Elements of Success and Failure — His Rank 
among Merchants -As an Individual — His Wholesale and 
Retail Business General Estimate of His Wealth — His Busi- 
Methods —Foundation Stone of His Success — How His 
Mercantile Business Grew— A Man of Modest and Retiring Dis- 
position Hi- Associations Restricted to a Few — Private Bene- 
Eactions Religious bite Public Benefactions — The Field 
Columbian Museum (lifts to Chicago University — Birthplace 
and Boyhood Private Life. 

'I'm 3Toi ng Man in Mercantile Life, ..... 545 



CONTENTS. 



15 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Page 
551 



William Andrews Clark, ... 

On/Paramont Elements of Success — Type of the Successful West- 
er.nPioneer — Birthplace — Lineage — Early Education — Removal 
the West — A Teacher in the Common Schools — Further Edu- 
cation — Studies Law — A Change of Purpose — First Mining 
Experiences — Becomes a Trader and Merchant — Organizes a 
Banking House — Successful Mining Projects — A Hard Worker — 
An Episode — Efforts in Behalf of Montana — His Political Career 

A Memorable Contest — Elected United States Senator — His 

Home and Home-Life — Man of Culture and Patron of Art — 
Personal Characteristics. 

Method, ........... 562 




/ 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



John Pi/rpont Morgan, ........ 

Oil/Aids to Success — Birthplace — Descended from an Old Amer- 
(n Family — How Educated- — Beginning of his Career as a 
ker — Inherited Advantage — J. P. Morgan & Company — What 
Lr. Morgan Does — Secret of His Power in Financial Circles — 
in Incessant Worker — Personal Appearance — Method of Trans- 
acting Business — His Wonderful Knowledge of Men — Reorgan- 
izer and Constructer — His Noteworthy Achievements on Behalf 
of the United States Government — Art Collector — His Fondness 
for Yachting — Gifts to Public Institutions — Characteristics. 
How Great Things are Done, 



569 



584 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Uohn Waxamaker, ......... 593 

On How to Succeed — Date and Place of his Birth — Parentage — 
A Country Boy — At School — Early Industry — " Everybody's 
Journal"— Secretary of Y. M. C. A. — Begins his' Mercantile 
Career — Steady Expansion of his Business — New York Store — 
In Politics — Postmaster General under Harrison — As a Citizen — 
His Religious Work — Other Enterprises — Keynote of his Success 
— As an Exemplar. 
How to Fail, .....••••• 601 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Thomas Alva Edisox, ......•• 

What Brings Success — Boyhood of a Genius — Newsboy, Editor, 
and Chemist at Fifteen — Heroic Tuition Fee— Not a Prig — 
Among Tramp Telegraphers — In Louisville — Astonishes Eastern 

N 



611 



j,; CONTENTS. 

Page 
Operators First Patent In New York — Capacity for Work — 
Personal Appearance —His Estimate of the Patent Pirate — A 
Closer View of Edison — Indifference to Plaudits — As a Business 
Man A Sensitive Nature — Place Among Scientists — At Work 
The Phonograph — Economic Features of his Inventions — 
Non-Electrical Experiments — His Principal Inventions — Achieve- 
ment of the Twentieth Century — Edison the Man. 
The Vut'i hi w [dea, ........ 624 

CHAPTER XXX. 

John 1>wi-<>.\ Rockefeller, ....... 634 

On the Important Elements of Success — His Hank Among the 
Captains of Industry — His Great Wealth — Place of his Birth 
Parental Qualities Inherited — -His Boyhood Marked by Indus- 
try and Economy — Removed to Cleveland — Interest in Church 
Work -Education — Beginning of his Industrial Career — His 
Introduction to the Oil Industry — The Standard Oil Company — 
other Business Enterprises — His Personality — Homes and Home 
Life - To What his Wonderful Success is Due — Philanthropies. 

I in l.i m, ii: of Economy, ........ 645 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Jameg Pekome Hill, ......... 652 

Where Opportunity Lies — Born in Canada — Ancestral Stock — 
How Educated — From County Clerk to Railroad President — Re- 
organization of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad — Transformation 
of t he Northwest Fortune Fairly Earned — The Great Northern of 
To-day -His Methods — The Training of Young Men — Mr. Hill 
a Many-sided Man — His Home at St. Paul — Interest in Agri- 
cultural Pursuits — Philanthropies — Something of his Personal 
Achievements. 
I in Victory i\ Defeat, 66-1 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Charges Michael Schwab, ....... 677 

On the Fundamental Elements of Success — Highest Salaried Man 
in the World In the Prime of Life — Birthplace — Boyhood — 
How Educated Begins Life as a Clerk in a Grocery Store — 
Stake-Driver Early Promotions — Head of Steel Works — An 
Illustrative Anecdote — How he Works — Secret of his Power — 
Interested in Young Men -How he Regards Organized Labor — 
Not a 'IN rani . 

Manners \\i> Dress, 688 






LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



William McKinley, ...... 

Photograph by Clinedinst. 
Lincoln at Gettysburg, ..... 
President Roosevelt in the Cabinet Room, . 

Photograph by Clinedin-'-t. 
Senator Frye as President of the Senate, . 

Photograph by Clinedinst. 
WiLliam J. Bryan at Home, . . . . 

Photograph by Townsend. 
Secretary Long in the Navy Office, 

Photograph by Clinedinst 
Portrait of Senator Daniel, . 

Photograpli by Parker. 
Senator Hanna at Work, . 

Photograph by Clinedinst. 
Charles Emory Smith at his Df.sk, 

Photograph by Clinedinst. 
Portrait of Ex-Senator Towne, 

Photograph by Marceau. 
Portrait of Senator Allison, 

Photograph by Parker. 
Admiral Dewey at Manila, . 

Front painting by H. T. See. 
Portrait of Senator Bkveridge, 
The Doctor. ....... 

Editorial Room of Henry Watterson, 

Photograph by Klauber. 
Portrait of President David Starr Jordan. 

Photograph by Marceau. 
Portrait of Cardinal Gtbbons, 

I'll )tograph by Bachrach <t - Brother. 
Edward Everett Hale in his Study, 

Photograph by . I Iden. 
Gen. Lew Wallace at Work in his Library, 

Photograph by Lacey & Nicholson. 
Colonel Conwell in Car and Gown, 

Photogropli hy Gutekunst. 



Frontispiece . 
Facing p. 



Facing />■ 



25 
43 



82 
105 
123 

147 
169 
191 
214 
240 

249 

259 

268 

289 

306 
331 
3 III 
364 



18 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PoHTKAn of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, 

Photograph by Meynen. 
Portraii OF Charles William Eliot, 

Photograph by Notman. 
Joseph Jefferson as " Bob Acres," 

Photograph by Sarony. 
Portrait of Bishop Vincent, 

Photograph by Girder & ( 'ook. 
Portraii "i James Whitcomb Riley, 

Photograph by Marceau. 
Portrait <>i Thomas Brackett Reed, 

Photograph by Dupont. 
I Hi New York Exchange, 

Photograph by Eockwood. 
Portrait of Andrew Carnegie, 

Photograph by Eockwood. 
Portrait <>i Marshall Field, . 

Photograph by Steffens. 
Portrait of William A. Clark, 

Photograph by Marceau. 
Portrait of J. Pierpont Morgan, 

Photograph by Mendelssohn, London. 
Portrait of John Wanamaker, 

Photograph by Gutekunst. 
Thomas A. Edison in his Laboratort, 

Photograph by Brady. 
Portrait <>i John 1). Rockefeller, 

Photograph by Dana. 
Por i R \i i of James J. Hill. 

Photograph by Pach. 
Portraii of Charles M. Schwab, 

Photograph by Duals. 



Page 

380 

408 
. . 427 
416 
468 
492 
Facing j>. 507 
525 
544 
56:'. 
585 
000 
625 
6 14 
665 
689 



INTRODUCTION. 

TN this stirring age it is difficult to find a sincere advo- 
X cate °^ me diocrity. The vast majority desire self-devel- 
T opment and self-advancement along the lines which 
their ambitions mark out for them. The impulses toward 
betterment come from so many sources, are so comprehen- 
sive and so widely prevalent, that the whole modern world 
is, as it were, infected with a desire for improvement. This 
desire to excel, whether in a professional career, in business, 
in statecraft, in artisanship, or in the humbler walks of life, 
is ennobling, and deserves the highest stimulation, for out 
of it have come the ''shining marks" of history and the 
most worthy examples of private life. 

The simple possession of a right desire is not sufficient 
in itself to procure all that such a desire implies. It must 
be accompanied by action, and often by the most heroic 
and self-sacrificing effort. It is true that in the career of 
every man there are some incontrollable elements, but 
these bear only a slight proportion, either in number or 
importance, to the elements which he can control. In 
other words, the character, the career, and the fortunes of 
every man are largely in his own keeping. He is what 
he makes himself. He can have what he desires if he will 
pay the price. He must take a mental inventory of him- 
self and determine whether he possesses the qualities, 
either actual or potential, that fit him for a leader or a 
follower. If it is to be the former, he will need all the 
heroic virtues — courage, persistency, application, self-recog- 
nized honesty — that may come to him as a natural heritage 
or through acquirement. 

Shakespeare says, "Some men are born great, some 
achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 



INTRODUCTION. 

them." If this were paraphrased by the substitution of the 
words successful and success for the words great and 
greatness, il might form a fairly exhaustive scheme of 
explanation covering the various causes of success. The 
point must not be overlooked, however, that success is by 
qo means a correct synonym for greatness. 

Bj far the greatest number of successful men .have 
become such through their own achievements; the other 
two classes mentioned in our paraphrase seem to reach 
success through a manifest destiny. What, then, are some 
of the elements that enter into success when self-achieved? 
Obviously the first essential toward success is a domi- 
nating purpose— one that has so fastened itself upon the 
ambitions that the person so possessed recognizes no 
obstacle too great to be overcome. To this must be added 
the executive agencies of courage and industry. John 
Kit to, an eminent writer, expresses himself in these words: 
-I am not myself a believer in impossibilities. I think 
that all the fine stories about natural ability, and so on, 
are mere rigmarole, and that every man may, according to 
his opportunities and industry, render himself almost any- 
thin- he wishes to become." This view may possibly be 
extreme, if taken literally, but the emphasis put upon 
industry is certainly borne out in many concrete examples. 

■ It is the worker who dignifies the task, and not the task 

thai ennobles the worker." 

Maik the following facts from the biographies of the 

world's celebrities : — 

Th 11 ilow Weed walked two miles through the snow with 

pieces of rag carpet about his feet for shoes, that he might 

borrow a book. 

Samuel Drew went on with his studies when he was too 

poor to l»n\ bread, and when he could appease the pangs 

of hunger onlj bj tying a girdle about his body. 

Lord Eldon, England's greatest Chief Justice, being too 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

poor to buy books when a boy, borrowed and copied three 
folio volumes of precedents, and the whole of Coke on 
Littleton. 

John Scott, after working hard all day, studied long 
into the night, tying a wet towel around his head to keep 
awake. 

Hugh Miller hammered an education from a stone 
quarry. 

Henry Wilson worked on a farm for twelve long years 
for a yoke of oxen and six sheep. 

The immortal Lincoln walked forty miles to borrow a 
book which he could not afford to buy. 

Goethe spent his entire fortune of over half a million 
dollars on his education. Let the reader notice the differ- 
ence between his success and that of Jay Gould. 

Milton wrote "Paradise Lost" in a world he could not 
see, and then sold it for fifteen pounds. 

John Bunyan wrote "Pilgrim's Progress" in prison, at 
the behest of conscience and in disregard of the edict of his 
accusers. 

Euripides spent three days writing five lines, and those 
lines have lived centuries since his language has ceased to 
be spoken. 

Sir Isaac Newton spent long years on an intricate cal- 
culation, and his papers having been destroyed by his dog 
Diamond he cheerfully began to replace them. 

Carlyle, after lending the manuscript of the "French 
Revolution" to a friend, whose servant carelessly used it to 
kindle a fire, calmly went to work and rewrote it. 

Napoleon waited for an appointment seven years after 
he had thoroughly prepared himself. 

Blucher, although he lost nine battles out of every ten, 
still pressed on witli an iron determination which won for 
him the title of "Marshal Forward." 

Cyrus W. Field risked a fortune and devoted years of 



INTRODUCTION. 

seeminglj hopeless drudgery, amid the scoffs of men, to 
lay tli" Atlantic cable. 

Handel practiced on his harpsichord in secret, until 
every key was hollowed by his fingers to resemble the 
howl of a spoon. 

George Stephenson worked fifteen long years for his 
firsl successful locomotive. 

Richard Arkwright, founder of cotton manufacture in 
England, began life by shaving people in a cellar at a 
penny a shave. 

These citations might be prolonged indefinitely, but 
sufficient have been produced to show the practical power 
of the will over the environing circumstances that often- 
times apparently block the way of ambitious youth. Dif- 
ficulties call out great qualities and make greatness pos- 
sible. If there were no difficulties there would be no 
success. The spark yi the flint would sleep forever but 
for friction; the fire in man would never blaze out but for 
antagonism. The moment man is relieved of opposition or 
friction and the track of his life is oiled with inherited 
wealth or other aids, that moment he often ceases to 
snuggle, and, therefore, ceases to grow. ''The real differ- 
ence between men is energy. A strong will, a settled 
purpose, an invincible determination, can accomplish almost 
anything, and in this lies the distinction between great 
men and little men.*' 

The second element in success, though closely allied 
with the first, is courage. Courage may take on many 
differenl tonus, and any one of its many attributes may 
he emphasized as tin; particular element of success. No 
more forcible illustration of this is needed than a careful 
reference to the utterances of the sages and men of action 
of all ages. ''The education of the will.*' says Emerson. 
•is the objeel "f 'Mil' existence. For the resolute and the 
determined there is always time and opportunity.*' "To 



TXTR O D 17 C TION. 23 

think a tiling impossible/' says another, "is to make it so. 
Courage is victory; timidity is defeat." Napoleon says. 
" The truest wisdom is a resolute determination," and to 
this President Porter adds. "Invincible determination, and 
a right nature, are the levers that move the world." "Lit- 
tle minds," interposes Irving, '"are tamed and subdued 
by misfortunes, but great minds are above them," while 
the dramatic dictum of Bulwer rings out in clarion tones, 
" In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves for bright 
manhood, there is no such word as fail." Another says, 
"Intense, ceaseless activity is the law of life": and still 
another, "It is defeat that turns bone to flint: it is defeat 
that turns gristle to muscle ; it is defeat that makes men 
invincible.'' So, armed with this quality of the soul, — 
courage, — we need never fear the consequences in the 
presence of opposition ; defeat may be only the threshold 
of victory. 

Life is the arena of many forms of courage ; as many, 
in fact, as there are lines of human action. There is 
physical courage, which dares to meet and overcome phys- 
ical opposition. This form of courage is by no means low ; 
but there are higher forms of courage. To be a martyr, 
one must have something more than the resignation to 
meet physical torture and death. He must have the 
courage to think the unthought and speak the unspoken, 
and not only to think and speak thus, but to do it amid 
the jeers of hatred and the hisses of calumny. But for 
this form of courage no triumphant vessel would to-day 
move upon the waters : no engine would jar the earth with 
its iron tread ; no magic wires would belt the globe. His- 
tory would be unstained with blood, it is true, and the 
simple record would be a colorless legend of submission — 
a world of rayless midnight, perhaps without stars. 

The darkness of the past has been illumined by the 
fagot fire kindled at the feet of courage. No grand libra- 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

ries would adorn our cities, no inspiring canvases make 
living the walls of galleries of art, had not moral courage 
dared to depicl its story. The steps of the world's progress 
have been over the red altars of human sacrifice. 

Physical, intellectual, and moral courage have heen 
the grand leaders in the ceaseless conquest of thought. 
All honor to the martyrs of science and religion and 
human freedom! "Who falls for the love of God shall 
rise a star." 

No age of human history has offered such a grand 
reward to courage in its highest sense as the present. The 
supreme need of human society to-day is a bold and fear- 
less spirit of individuality. In both politics and religion 
we see a disgusting cowardice that makes men slaves to 
base schemes and cunning tyranny. The call of the hour 
is to duty. The courageous performance of duty leads to 
nobility ; and this quality is not only one of the highest 
in human character but even an attribute of divinity 
itself. 

If you would, therefore, make the most of life, oo not 
seek the " path of least resistance " ; rather welcome the 
difficulties in your way. Do not be frightened by them or 
ili^eouraged because of them. They are your opportunities 
for winning success. " He who refuses to make use of, 
or flings away, his opportunities, flings away his man- 
hood." 



PART ONE. 
LEADERS IN PUBLIC LIFE. 




LINCOLN'S ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG. 



CHAPTER I. 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 

ON SUCCESS SKETCH OF HIS LIFE A LEADER FROM YOUTH FROM 

WEAKLING TO ATHLETE ENTERS PUBLIC LIFE CAREER IN THE ASSEMBLY 

COMBINED WRITING WITH HUNTING EFFORTS TO REFORM GOTHAM 

IN THE NAVY DEPARTMENT LEADER OF ROUGH RIDERS THE FIRST BATTLE 

HIS TRIUMPH AT PHILADELPHIA PRESIDENT. DECISION OF CHARACTER. 




Success must always include, as its first element, earning 
a competence for the support of the man himself, and for the 
bringing up of those dependent upon him. 
In the vast majority of cases it ought to 
include financially rather more than this. 
But the acquisition of wealth is not in the 
least the only test of success. Successful 
statesmen, soldiers, sailors, explorers, histo- 
rians, poets, and scientific men are very much 
more essential than any mere successful 
business man can possibly be. 

The average man into whom the average 
boy develops, is, of course, not going to be 
a marvel in any line, but, if he only chooses to try, he can be 
very good in any line, and the chances of his doing good work 
are immensely increased if he has trained his mind. If, of 
course, he gets to thinking that the only kind of learning is 
that to be found in books, he will do very little ; but if he 
keeps his mental balance,— that is. if he shows character,— he 
will understand both what learning can do and what it can- 
not, and he will be all the better the more he can get. 

Perhaps there is no more important component of character 
than steadfast resolution. The boy who is going to make a 
great man, or is going to count in any way in after life, must 
make up his mind not merely to overcome a thousand ob- 
stacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses or defeats. 



^7^^o-cc<rt^e /G^o^-et-e-^- 



LEADERS OF MEN. 

HEODORE ROOSEVELT, soldier, legislator, historian, 
ranchman, civil service reformer, politician, police 
"X" commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Gov- 
ernor of the Empire State, Vice-President of the United 
States, President of the United States, is one of the most 
remarkable personalities in the history of the United States 
of the last quarter century. Scarcely yet of middle age, he 
has won a place in the literary world as well as in that of poli- 
tics. He has been a prime mover in noted reforms, has 
distinguished himself as a soldier by gallantry and general- 
ship, as a statesman by a consistent and constant battle for 
purity in public office, and as an executive in the able conduct 
of the Assistant Secretaryship of the Navy, and the manage- 
ment of the affairs of the State of New York. 

As a politician, he has won from hostile leaders reluctant 
invitation to take command of their forces, offering by the 
popularity his personal record has gained, an assurance of 
success which made him necessary as a candidate to the wel- 
fare of his party. 

Personally the President is most charming. No one denies 
the attractiveness of his frankness, his wealth of human 
interest and sympathy. His friends, who are legion, are 
sturdy and steadfast. 

Though a weakling as a child, he has developed himself 
into a strong and active man, and his passion for hunting big 
game and his love for adventure have added not the least 
picturesque part to his history. Mr. Roosevelt is stockily 
built, and some three inches short of six feet in height. He is 
very near-sighted, and always wears thick eyeglasses. His 
expression is genial, and he smiles frequently, showing his 
teeth, which feature has been accented and lampooned in the 
thousands of caricatures published to ridicule him and the 
political party which has sent him to the Presidency. 

From his college days Mr. Roosevelt has been a leader. 
His methods have always won the respect and support of those 
with whom he has been associated, though they have also 
brought upon him virulent attacks in almost every position 
he ever held. As a member of the legislature of New York 
he did much to purify office holding ; as an historian, he 
showed himself a deep student ; as a member of the United 
States Civil Service Commission and later a commissioner of 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 27 

police in New York city, he displayed ability to enforce jnst, 
though unpopular, laws, and create a sentiment in favor of 
such enforcement. His most notable work, perhaps, was in 
the Navy Department, where he was admittedly responsible 
in large degree for the preparedness of ships and supplies which 
made the naval victories of Manila Bay and Santiago possible 
to the American fleets. 

As a writer, the President has been a contributor to maga- 
zines of innumerable articles on historical, political, and scien- 
tific subjects. A list of his more extended and important works 
includes, "The Winning of the West," "'Life of Governor 
Morris," "Life of Thomas Hart Benton," " Naval War of 1812," 
" History of New York," '" American Ideals and other Essays," 
" The Wilderness Hunter," " Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," 
"Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail," "The Strenuous Life," 
and " The Rough Riders." 

Mr. Roosevelt has been married twice. His home is at Sag- 
amore Hill, Oyster Bay, Long Island. He is a man of domestic 
tastes, and is devoted to his family. He has six children, the 
oldest, Alice, the offspring of his first marriage. 

Theodore Roosevelt was born October 20, 1858, at 28 East 
Twentieth street, New York city. His father, also Theodore 
Roosevelt, was a member of an old New York Dutch family, 
and the President is of the eighth generation of the stock in the 
United States. Mingled with the Dutch in Theodore Roose- 
velt's veins are strains of English, Celtic, and French. His 
mother was Miss Martha Bulloch, who came of a distinguished 
Georgia family, which had given to that state a governor, 
Archibald Bulloch, in Revolutionary times. In a later gen- 
eration a member of the family built the Confederate priva- 
teer "Alabama." 

The father of the President was a merchant and importer 
of glassware. During the Civil War he was a noted figure in 
New York. He had great strength of character and a liking 
for practical benevolence, which made him foremost in many 
such charities. Newsboys' lodging houses, the allotment sys- 
tem, which permitted soldiers during the war to have portions 
of their pay sent to their families, and other forms of direct 
help to the poorer classes found in him a champion. His 
ancestors had been aldermen, judges of the Supreme Court of 
the city, and representatives in the National Congress. In 



28 LEADERS OF MEX. 

Revolutionary times. Now York chose a Roosevelt to act with 
Alexander Hamilton in the United States Constitutional Con- 
vention. Roosevelt street w;is once a eowpath on the Roose- 
velt farm, and the Roosevelt Hospital is the gift of a wealthy 
member of a recent generation of the family. 

As a child, the Roosevelt who was to rise to such high 
place in the nation was puny and backward. He could not 
keep up with his fellows either in study or play, and on this 
account was taught by a private tutor at home. The country 
residence of the Roosevelts was at Oyster Bay, Long Island, 
and here the children were brought up. They were compelled 
by their father to take plenty of outdoor exercise, and young 
Theodore, soon realizing that he must have strength of body if 
he was to do anything in life, entered into the scheme for the 
improvement of his physical condition with the same enthusi- 
asm and determination which has characterized every act of 
his life. He grew up an athlete, strong and active, and when 
he entered Harvard in 1875 he soon became prominent in field 
sports. He became noted as a boxer and wrestler, and was for 
a time captain of the college polo team. He did not neglect 
his studies and, when he was graduated in 1880, he took high 
honors. During his stay in the university he had been editor 
of the Advocate, a college paper, and gave particular attention 
to the study of history and natural history. He became a 
member of the Phi Beta Kappa Greek letter fraternity. 

At the conclusion of his college course he went abroad for 
a year, spending part of the time in study in Dresden. His 
love for athletics led him to successfully attempt the ascent of 
the Jung-Frau and the Matterhorn, and won for him a mem- 
bership in the Alpine Club of London. He returned to New 
York in 1881, and in the same year married Miss Alice Lee of 
Boston. Two years later he. had the misfortune to lose his 
wife and mother within a week. 

Theodore Roosevelt has been an ardent student of history 
from his college days, and before he was twenty-three years 
old had entered the field himself as a writer. He is an enthu- 
siastic admirer of Washington, Lincoln, and Grant. On his 
return from Europe, and while engaged on his historical work, 
he entered the law office of his uncle, Robert B. Roosevelt, 
with the design of fitting himself for the bar. He was of too 
restless a disposition to find content in such a sober calling, 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 29 

and the whole bent of his mind, as shown by his reading, 
his writing, and the effort to do something extraordinary, 
something that would mark him above his fellows, which had 
made him a bidder for college championships and prompted 
him to tempt the dangers of the Swiss mountain peaks, sent 
him hurrying into politics before he had settled down to any- 
thing like deep study of the law. 

He attended his first primary in 1881, in the Twenty-first 
assembly district of New York. It was a gathering of the 
class attendant on such occasions, with little to charm the 
ordinary young man of aristocratic lineage and wealth, but 
Theodore Roosevelt had studied history with a purpose. He 
knew that through the primary led the way to political prefer- 
ment, and he at once entered into the battle of politics in 
which he was to prove a gladiator of astonishing prowess, 
routing and terrifying his enemies, but often startling his 
allies by the originality and recklessness of his methods. 

The natural enthusiasm of young Roosevelt, his undeniable 
personal charm, and the swirl of interest with which he 
descended into the arena of local politics made him friends on 
every side in a community where leaders are at a high pre- 
mium, and within a few months the young college man 
was elected to the assembly of the state from his home 
district. 

His ability and his methods were in strong evidence at the 
following session of the legislature. He proved a rallying 
power'for the Republican minority, and actually succeeded in 
passing legislation which the majority submitted to only 
through fear and which his own party in the state would never 
have fathered had it been in power. Mr. Roosevelt was the 
undisputed leader of the Republicans in the assembly within 
two months after his election, and he immediately turned his 
attention to the purification of New York city. This would 
have appalled a man less determined or more experienced. 
But the young aspirant for a place in history reckoned neither 
with conditions nor precedents. His success, considering the 
strength of the combination against which he was arrayed, 
was extraordinary. He succeeded in securing the passage of 
the bill which deprived the city council of New York of the 
power to veto the appointments of the mayor, a prerogative 
which had nullified every previous attempt at reform and had 



30 LEADERS OF MEN. 

made the spoliation of the city's coffers an easy matter in the 
time of Tweed and other bosses. 

Mr. Roosevelt's methods, it was cheerfully predicted by his 
political opponents, would certainly result in his retirement 
from participation in the state councils of New York, but this 
proved far from the case. As has happened in every case 
since, wherever Theodore Roosevelt has been thrown with any 
class of people, wherever they have come to know him person- 
ally, he has attracted to himself enthusiastic friendship and 
confidence. Theatrical though many of his acts have appeared, 
his honesty, his personal fearlessness, and the purity of his 
motives have not been questioned. 

He became so popular that not only was he returned to 
three sessions of the assembly, but his party in the state soon 
realized that he was one of its strongest men, and he was sent 
to the Republican National Convention of 1S84 as chairman of 
the New York delegation. 

Meanwhile he had been hammering away at corruption in 
New York, and had secured the passage of the act making the 
offices of the county clerk, sheriff, and register salaried ones. 
He had been chairman of the committee to investigate the 
work of county officials, and, as a result of that investigation, 
offered the bill which cut from the clerk of the county of New 
York an income in fees which approximated $82,000 per annum ; 
from the sheriff $100,000, and from the register also a very 
high return in fees. From the county offices to the police was 
not far, and Roosevelt was agitating an investigation and re- 
form in the guardianship of the city when he left the legislature. 
After the convention, to which he went uninstructed, but in 
favor of the nomination of Mr. Edmunds against James G. 
Blaine, his health failed. The deaths of his wife and mother 
had been a severe shock, for Mr. Roosevelt is a man of the 
strongest personal attachments. He turned aside from public 
life for a time and went west. 

He had been a lover of hunting from boyhood, and when 
he decided to spend some time in the wilds of Montana he 
took up the life as he found it there. On the banks of the 
Little Missouri he built a log house, working on it himself, and 
there turned ranchman, cowboy, and hunter. He engaged 
in one of the last of the big buffalo hunts, and saturated 
himself with the life of the West. His trips were not 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 31 

alone confined to this section of the West, and his courage, 
intelligence, and companionable nature made him a name 
which in later years drew to his standard thousands of 
cowboys, among whom his name had come to mean all that 
they admire and all that appeals to their natures. The love 
and admiration were not one-sided, for Mr. Roosevelt came to 
regard these hardy, open-hearted, plain-spoken guardians of 
the wilderness as the finest types of manhood, and his over- 
weening admiration of them as a class led him into compari- 
sons which chilled the managers of his party to the very mar- 
row during the presidential campaign. 

Here among the Buttes and Bad Lands Mr. Roosevelt spent 
a year or more, hunting, trapping, and caring for his herds. 
It is told of him that he pursued for two weeks and finally 
captured some cattle thieves who had raided his ranch. In 
this time he made many hunting trips, often alone, and killed 
a great deal of big game. 

In these years and between 1880 and 1889 Mr. Roosevelt 
was also busy on much of his literary work. The most impor- 
tant of his works— "The Winning of the West," a history in 
four volumes of the acquisition of the territory west of the 
Alleghanies — required an enormous amount of research. On 
its publication it leaped at once into popularity and soon 
acquired a reputation as a most reliable text-book. 

His hunting trips and his months of life among the men 
and the game of the West have supplied the material for a 
number of Mr. Roosevelfs books, among them "The Wilder- 
ness Hunter," " Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," and "Ranch 
Life and the Hunting Trail." His most noted work of recent 
years is " The Rough Riders," being a history of the formation, 
the battles, career, and disbandment of the remarkable body 
of soldiers comprising the regiment which Mr. Roosevelt 
recruited largely himself, and of which he was lieutenant-col- 
onel and colonel in the brief campaign in Cuba. His style is 
interesting and clear, and, while the story is told in the first 
person, there is a simplicity of narrative and a cordiality of 
praise to all who seemed to deserve it that robs this book of 
much of the self-glorification of which its author has been 
freely accused. 

Mr. Roosevelt's more important works have been historical, 
but his writings have not been confined to this subject. He 



32 LEADERS OF MEN. 

has contributed many articles to scientific magazines, partic- 
ularly on discrimination of species and sub-species of the larger 
animals of the West. A species of elk is named after him, 
and he made known the enlarged western species of a little 
insectivore called the shrew. 

This period of writing and hunting was broken by two 
important events. He was defeated as candidate for mayor 
of New York and he married again. The second wife of the 
President was Miss Edith Kermit Carow, daughter of an old 
New- York family. They have fivo children— three sons and 
two daughters. The marriage took place in 18SG, and in the 
same year Theodore Roosevelt was the Republican nominee 
for mayor of his native city. Opposed to him were Abram 
S. Hewitt, the Democratic candidate, and Henry George, tbe 
apostle of single tax. So great an enthusiasm had been cre- 
ated by Mr. George's book " Progress and Poverty," and so 
quickly did he attach to himself all the floating elements dis- 
satisfied with the regime of both the old parties and without 
the vested wealth threatened by the theories of their leader, 
that both of the old parties were alarmed. It was said that 
fear that George would be elected sent thousands of Repub- 
lican votes to Hewitt, whose chances of success seemed greatly 
better than those of his young Republican opponent. Hewitt 
was elected, but Mr. Roosevelt received a larger proportion of 
the votes cast than had any other Republican candidate for 
mayor up to that time. 

For years after this Mr. Roosevelt was not prominent in 
politics. He spent his time in writing and in hunting trips to 
the West. Never an idle man, he accomplished an immense 
amount of research in the preparation of his historical works. 

President Harrison appointed Theodore Roosevelt a mem- 
ber of the United States Civil Service Commission May 13, 
1889. While in the New York legislature much of his efforts 
had been directed to the improvement of the public service. 
He was one of the most noted advocates in the country of the 
merit system, and his enmity to the spoilsman had won him 
objurgations of press and party on numberless occasions. To 
his new duties he brought enthusiastic faith in the righteous- 
ness and the expediency of a civil service system, and he at 
once embarked on a campaign for establishing its permanency 
and for its extension, which again made him the butt of almost 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 33 

daily attacks. In Congress and in the ranks of the leaders of 
his party hundreds of opponents sprang up to attack him, but 
he held to his course and eventually won to his own way of 
thinking many public men. Though always determined and 
aggressive, Mr. Roosevelt is a man of great tact, and to this 
no less than to the resolute assurance of his methods was due 
the success of his efforts for the extension of the civil service 
in the national service. 

In the wave of reform which swept over New York in 1894- 
'95 the men, including Mayor Strong, who were borne into 
power were something of the same stamp as the civil service 
commissioner. They were of the class which fought political 
rings, and they turned to Mr. Roosevelt to take a hand in pu- 
rifying the police force of New York city, which was alleged to 
be a sink of political rottenness and studied inefficiency. Mr. 
Roosevelt resigned as civil service commissioner May 5, 1895, 
and was appointed a police commissioner of New York city 
May 24 following. 

The uproar that followed the introduction of Roosevelt 
methods in the conduct of the New York police force has 
never been equaled as a police sensation in that city. Within 
a month after his appointment the whole force was in a state 
of fright. The new commissioner made night rounds himself, 
and being unknown to the men he caught scores of them in 
dereliction of duty. He dismissed and promoted and punished 
entirely on a plan of his own. Politics ceased to save or help 
the men, and the bosses were up in arms. In this emergency 
an attempt was made to have Roosevelt's appointment by 
Mayor Strong vetoed by the city council and it was discovered 
that an act of the legislature, passed some twelve years 
prior, had taken the power of veto from the city council. 
Theodore Roosevelt was the author of this act, and its passage 
had been secured after one of the strongest fights he had made 
when a member of the state legislature. 

Commissioner Roosevelt announced that he would enforce 
the laws as he found them. He gave special attention to the 
operation of the excise law on Sunday, and, after severe meas- 
ures had been used on some of the more hardy saloon keepers, 
New York at last had, in June, 1895, for the first time within 
the memory of living man, a "dry" Sunday. Though un- 
doubtedly a great deal of good was done by Commissioner 



34 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Roosevelt in breaking up much of the blackmail which had 
been levied by policemen, in transferring and degrading 
officers who were notoriously responsible for the bad name 
the force had, and in making promotions for merit, fidelity 
and courage, Mr. Roosevelt's career as a police commissioner 
made him extremely unpopular not only with the class at 
which his crusade was aimed, but with the business men and 
the more conservative of the citizens. 

His methods attracted to his support a great swarm of 
spies, the agents of various kinds of so-called reform organ- 
izations, and against these men the police were powerless. 
Some of them were convicted themselves of blackmail, but 
this was after the first flush of the Roosevelt campaign. An 
air of espionage was attached to all police methods and the 
affiliation of the new police commissioner with the notoriety- 
seeking municipal reformers lost him many adherents, who 
would have applauded his work had the means been more to 
manly taste. 

The fierce crusade against the saloon keepers was brief, 
and its effects lasted but a few weeks. The new commis- 
sioner gave his attention to more important matters, and really 
made the force cleaner than it had been before. He undoubt- 
edly gained the hearty devotion of the better class of the 
policemen. He was most careful of their comfort and quick to 
see and reward merit. He was also quick to punish, and this 
kept the worse half of the men on their good behavior. 

The attacks of the enemies which Mr. Roosevelt's methods 
raised up against him were not confined to verbal denuncia- 
tions nor expressions through the press. Dynamite bombs 
were left in his office, a part of his associates on the police 
board fought his every move, and all the skill of New York 
politicians with whom he interfered was exercised to trap him 
into a situation where he would become discredited in his 
work. In this they were unsuccessful and the stormy career 
of the police force continued. In the end the new commis- 
sioner conquered. He had the necessary power and the per- 
sonal courage and tenacity of purpose to carry out his plans. 
He fought blackmail until he had practically stopped it and he 
promoted and removed men without regard to color, creed, or 
politics. He resigned in April, 1897, to become Assistant Sec- 
retary of the Navy. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 35 

Theodore Roosevelt was appointed Assistant Secretary of 
the Navy April 19, 1897. The troubles of the Cubans with 
Spain, the long history of oppression and outrage to which 
they had been subjected, and the years of warfare they had 
known with the armies of Weyler and Campos, had excited 
American sympathy, and many public men realized that in- 
terference by the United States was almost assured. In this 
connection it was realized by President McKinley and his 
advisers that the navy was not in condition to make it an 
effective war instrument in the impending conflict. In cast- 
ing about for a man to fill the position of Assistant Secretary 
of the Navy, which place carried with it much of the execu- 
tive work which would be required in putting fighting ships 
into shape, the President and Secretary Long were favorably 
disposed toward Mr. Roosevelt, who was one of the many 
candidates for the place. His work on the naval war of 1812 
had acquired fame for its accuracy and its exhibition of wide 
knowledge of naval matters on the part of the author, and 
Mr. Roosevelt was asked to accept the appointment. 

He brought to the duties of the office a great interest in 
the work, as well as the tremendous energy and talent for 
closely studying and mastering his work which had character- 
ized him in other fields. He also brought to the position some 
of his startling methods, and again proved himself a "storm 
center," a name he had already been given, and to which he 
has earned better title in each succeeding year. In the fall of 
1897 he was detailed to inspect the fleet gathered at Hampton 
Roads, and he kept the commanders and their jackies in a 
ferment for a week. Whenever he thought of a drill he would 
like to see, he ordered it. The crews were called to night 
quarters and all sorts of emergency orders were given at all 
sorts of hours. When the Assistant Secretary came back to 
Washington to report, he had mastered some of the important 
details of the situation, at least. 

During his rather brief connection with the department, 
Mr. Roosevelt was a strong advocate of the naval personnel 
bill. He was also in charge of the purchase of auxiliary 
vessels after war was actually declared. When guns had 
been fired in actual warfare and the invasion of Cuba had 
been determined upon Mr. Roosevelt resigned to take part 
with the land forces in that campaign. 



36 LEADERS OF MEN. 

His resignation as Assistant Secretary of the Navy bears 
date of May 6, 1898. His appointment as lieutenant-colonel, 
First Regiment United States Volunteer Cavalry, is dated 
May 5, 1898. 

The body of men of which Col. Roosevelt took command 
was one of the most remarkable ever enlisted in any country. 
It was chosen from some 3,500 applicants and numbered about 
900. The plains gave it its largest membership, and the name 
under which it soon came to be known was the "Rough 
Riders." Dr. Leonard Wood, U. S. A., a close personal friend 
of Mr. Roosevelt, and his companion on many hunting trips, 
was, like himself,- an ardent admirer of the fearless and ster- 
ling characters so often found among the cowboys of the 
American cattle ranges. When war was an assured fact, 
these two men conceived the idea of recruiting a regiment 
from among the ranks of these plainsmen. Both were known 
throughout many Western states to the most famous of the 
frontiersmen, and the project met with instant and enthusi- 
astic favor in a thousand ranches. Cowboys, dead shots, 
perfect horsemen, who did not know what fear or fatigue 
meant, flocked to the standard raised by Wood and Roosevelt, 
and there eventually gathered at Tampa a body of men than 
whom it would be hard to find any more perfectly fitted for 
such war as the conflict with Spain in the jungles of Cuba 
assured. Old Indian fighters were there by the score, and 
there were even six full-blooded Indians among the enlisted 
men. 

Such an outburst of popular interest attended the recruit- 
ing of this regiment that Col. Wood and Lieut. -Col. Roosevelt 
were soon overwhelmed with applications for enlistment from 
the college men, athletes, clubmen, sons of millionaire parents, 
who loved the idea of adventure and battle in such company. 
As a result several companies were recruited from the pick of 
the young men of the country. Nearly every noted club of 
the country had its quota, and scores of Wall street stock- 
brokers wore khaki in the ranks. 

The Rough Riders, it was originally intended, should be 
mounted, and as cavalry they went to the rendezvous at 
Tampa. Bnt when the time came to go to Cuba there was no 
room on the transports for horses, and these cavalrymen, like 
the rest of the men who had enlisted in all the regiments 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 37 

assembled at the Florida port, were mad to get to the front. 
Rather than not see some of the fighting, the commander of 
the Rough Riders secured a place for his men among the 
troops sent to participate in the siege of Santiago, and they 
went as dismounted cavalry. As such they went to Cuba 
and fought through the brief but bloody campaign before the 
besieged city. They never had an opportunity to display 
their skill as horsemen after they left the training camps at 
San Antonio and Tampa, but they won a reputation for 
courage and cheerful patience under hardship, battle, and 
disease which is not surpassed in history. 

This was not the first military service of Roosevelt. Soon 
after his graduation from Harvard he had joined the Eighth 
Regiment, New York National Guard, and had been in time 
promoted to the captaincy of a company. He remained a 
militiaman for four years, leaving his command only when 
he took up his permanent residence in Washington as a mem- 
ber of the Civil Service Commission. 

The recruiting of the Rough Riders had been begun and 
had progressed rapidly even before Roosevelt left his post in 
the Navy Department, and in a few days after his arrival in 
San Antonio, the Rough Riders, then about 900 strong, were 
removed to Tampa. When the selection of the troops to go 
to Cuba was made, but eight companies of seventy men each 
were taken. Those who were left behind were most disconso- 
late. The transports carrying the army of invasion to Cuba 
sailed from Port Tampa June 13, 1898. Thirty large vessels 
carried the troops and took six days to reach Daiquiri, the 
little port to the east of the harbor of Santiago where 
the army was disembarked. The Rough Riders were in the 
brigade commanded by Gen. S. M. B. Young, together with 
the First (white) and Tenth (colored) regular cavalry regi- 
ments, and was a part of the division commanded by Gen. 
Joseph Wheeler. 

The first fight of the Rough Riders took place in the ad- 
vance from Daiquiri toward Santiago. They were sent out on 
a hill trail to attack the position of the Spaniards who blocked 
the road to the town. The Spanish occupied ridges opposite 
to those along which the trail used by the Rough Riders led, 
and a fierce fight took place in the jungle. The Spanish had 
smokeless powder, and it was almost impossible to locate 



38 LEADERS OF MEN. 

them in the underbrush. The Rough Riders behaved with 
great gallantry, and took the position occupied by the enemy, 
but not without considerable loss. For distinguished gal- 
lantry in this action Lieut. -Col. Roosevelt was promoted to be 
colonel July 11, 1898. The place of this engagement is called 
Las Guasimas, " the thorns/' from the large number of trees 
of that species found there. The Rough Riders in this action 
acted in concert with other attacking forces composing the 
vanguard of the army. Several days after this Gen. Young 
was taken with fever, and. Col. Wood taking command of the 
brigade, Col. Roosevelt became commanding officer of the 
regiment. 

In this capacity he commanded the Rough Riders in the 
battle of San Juan, where they withstood a heavy fire for a 
long time, and finally, when ordered to advance, made a gal- 
lant charge, capturing two of the hills occupied by the enemy. 
The fall of Santiago followed the American success, and a 
period of inactivity began for the American troops. Insuf- 
ficient transportation had entailed improper and insufficient 
food, and, together with the effects of the climate, began to 
have serious effects on the troops. Fever decimated their 
ranks, and those who were still able to attend to their duties 
were weakened by disease. 

It soon became apparent to the officers in command of the 
Americans that the only salvation for their men was removal 
to the North. It had been reported that yellow fever was 
epidemic among the soldiers in camp about Santiago, and, 
while this was not at all true, most of the men were suffering 
from malarial fever, and there was some fear of the introduc- 
tion of the tropic scourge into the United States if the troops 
were brought home suffering from it. 

Col. Roosevelt was in command of the brigade at this time, 
owing to Gen. Wood having been made governor-general of 
Santiago, and as such the commander of the Rough Riders 
discussed with the other generals an appeal to the authorities 
to remove the troops back to the United States. There was 
disinclination on the part of the regular officers to take the 
initiative, as much correspondence had taken place between 
Gen. Shafter and the War Department, the latter stating the 
reasons why it seemed inexpedient to cause the removal at 
that time. In this emergency Col. Roosevelt prepared a pres- 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 39 

entation of the situation and, after reading over the rough 
draft to the other .commanders, submitted it to Gen. Shaf ter. 
Directly afterward a circular letter was prepared and signed 
by all the generals and commanding officers and presented to 
Gen. Shaffer. This came to be known as "the round robin," 
and its result was instantaneous. Both letters, Col. Roose- 
velt's and the round robin, were published throughout the 
United States and created a profound sensation. Within 
three days after they had been delivered to Gen. Shaffer the 
order for the return of the army was issued. 

The Rough Riders with their colonel returned to Camp 
Wikoff, at the northern extremity of Long Island, in late 
August, and on September 15, 1898, were mustered out of the 
service with Col. Roosevelt. 

The campaign for the control of New York state in the 
approaching election of a governor had already begun when 
the Rough Riders returned from Cuba. Col. Roosevelt's name 
had often been mentioned for the Republican nomination and 
the popular enthusiasm for this selection was supported by 
the leaders of the party in the state. Gov. Frank S. Black 
had been elected by an enormous plurality two years pre- 
viously, and according to all traditions should have been re- 
nominated. He was set aside, however, for the new hero, and 
the convention at Saratoga nominated Col. Roosevelt with a 
hurrah. The friends of Gov. Black had fought bitterly so long 
as there seemed a chance for success, and they started the 
rumor that Col. Roosevelt was ineligible for the nomination, 
as he had relinquished his residence in New York when he 
went to Washington to enter the Navy Department. 

The actual campaign was a most picturesque one. B. B. 
Odell, chairman of the state committee and now governor, 
was opposed to Col. Roosevelt stumping the state in his own 
canvass, but it soon became apparent that general apathy ex- 
isted, and consent was reluctantly given to the candidate to 
do so. There followed a series of speeches that woke up the 
voters. Col. Roosevelt, by nature forceful, direct and theat- 
rical in his manner and method, went back and forward, up 
and down New York, accompanied by a few of his Rough 
Riders in their uniforms. These cowboys made speeches, tell- 
ing, usually, how much they thought of their colonel, and the 
tour met with success. Col. Roosevelt was elected governor 



40 LEADERS OF MEN. 

over Augustus Van Wyck, the Democratic candidate, by a 
plurality of about 17,000. 

Among the achievements of Governor Roosevelt as chief 
executive of the Empire State were the enforcement of the law 
to tax corporations, which had been passed at a special session 
of the legislature called by the governor for that purpose ; 
making the Erie Canal Commission non-partisan ; his aid to 
the tenement commission in their work for the betterment of 
the poor in New York, and in breaking up the sweat shops 
through rigid enforcement of the factory law. 

Theodore Roosevelt, as governor of New York, continued to 
keep in the public eye, as he had always done in every other 
position he had held from the day of his election to the legis- 
lature of his native state. In the spring of 1900, on the ap- 
proach of the Republican National Convention, his name was 
the most often spoken of in connection with the second place 
on the national ticket. The convention met June 19 in Phila- 
delphia, and it was soon made known that Colonel Roosevelt 
was the choice of the convention. 

In the campaign that followed with its issues and its per- 
sonalities the figure of Roosevelt looms prominently into the 
picture which memory paints. He gave to the otherwise dull 
and spiritless contest the little exhilaration which it possessed. 
He stood shoulder to shoulder with McKinley in the public 
eye. He leaped into the glad embrace of cow-punchers in 
Montana, he wrestled with rowdies in Colorado, he swept 
through the Middle West theatrically attended by processions 
of amateur rough riders. He was the picturesque feature of 
the campaign. His slouch hat, his eyeglasses, his prominent 
front teeth, were in universal evidence, either in friendly por- 
trait or hostile cartoon. He made numerous speeches in his 
impulsive way, always plunging ahead and fearing neither 
the world, the flesh, nor the devil. What he said does not so 
much matter now. It was the way in which he said it that 
fastened his picture indelibly upon the minds of those who 
basked beneath his expansive smile. 

Out of the clouds of misconception and the false impres- 
sions thrown about this picturesque figure by the cartoonists 
and the paragraphers, more interested in sensationalism than 
in reality, there suddenly emerges this intensely earnest, 
patriotic, humanity-loving, non-sectional American, this prac- 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 41 

tical idealist, to become ruler of the greatest country in the 
world. 

By the tragic death of William McKinley on Saturday 
morning, September 14, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to 
the high office of President of the United States, and is the 
youngest man ever inducted into that office. No one doubted 
either his fitness or his willingness to accept the responsibili- 
ties of policy and administration which his oath of office im- 
posed upon him. His declaration of policy was simple and 
direct : "I shall continue absolutely unbroken the policy of 
President McKinley for the peace, prosperity, and honor of 
our beloved country." How well and with what fidelity this 
declaration has been followed is so obvious that it needs no 
exposition. 

The lamented President McKinley, so foully murdered and 
so universally mourned, was probably the last of our presi- 
dents who had participated in the Civil War. Standing at 
the threshold of a new century, President Roosevelt seems to 
mark the dawn of a new era in our public life. His military 
record belongs to the whole country, even more so than the 
military records of our presidents who had served in the War 
of 1812 and the Mexican War ; for those wars had both sec- 
tional and political opposition. The country during the 
Spanish War was united as never before in its history, and it 
is among the greatest of President McKinley's achievements 
that during that war he contributed so materially to the oblit- 
eration of sectional and political differences. 

Most of our presidents have been well fitted for the work 
they had to do, but no president has had the forcefulness and 
ability, combined with education and varied training and ex- 
perience, of the present chief executive. 

Theodore Roosevelt is one of the interesting personalities 
of our day and generation. He is a picturesque figure, and 
was so before the Rough Rider uniform and hat existed, and 
would be even if he had never worn them. Within him was 
a vital spark that has flamed into perfect physical vigor. His 
characteristic is force. This is the central quality. But with 
this are an honest mind, right motives, readiness and direct- 
ness in speech, frankness and courage, and high ideals of pub- 
lic and private duty and service. It could not be otherwise 
than that such a man should not only fill the popular eye, but 



42 LEADERS OF MEN. 

command the popular favor. The people like a bold man, a 
square man, a strong man, and they know instinctively that 
he is all these. 

DECISION AND ENERGY OF CHARACTER. 

'HE elements of success lock and interlock ; it is difficult 
to separate them — to tell where one ends and another 
begins : so it is with decision ; it is involved in the 
operation of other qualities. Yet it has a character of 
its own. It was the spirit of our fathers when they arose to 
cast off the British yoke, and adopted the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

Patrick Henry voiced it in the convention of Virginia in 
that impassioned speech in which he said : — 

" If we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in 
which we have been so long engaged, and which we have 
pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object 
of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight. I repeat it, 
sir, we must fight ! An appeal to arms and to the God of 
hosts is all that is left us. It is vain, sir, to extenuate the 
matter. Gentlemen may cry ' Peace, peace ! ' but there is 
no peace. The war is actually begun ! The next gale that 
sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of 
resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why 
stand we here idle ? What is it that gentlemen would have ? 
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the 
price of chains and slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God ! I 
know not what course others may take ; but as for me, give 
me liberty, or give me death." 

John Foster cites an example of decision of character 
worthy of our study : — 

A young Englishman inherited a vast estate just when his 
wild nature was yielding to dissipation. The great legacy 
served only to hasten his progress to ruin. Within a few 
years the last dollar of his patrimony was spent, and poverty 
and degradation stared him in the face. 

One day, in his deep despair, he rushed out of the house 
resolved to take his own life in the field yonder. Reaching an 
eminence that overlooked the estates which had passed out of 
his hands, he stopped, entranced by the splendid panorama 
that spread out before him, and finally sat down to reflect. 




PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT IN THE CABINET ROOM. 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 45 

Then and there, with mighty difficulties and apparent im- 
possibilities before him, he resolved to regain the estates which 
his immorality had wasted. At once he decided to carry out 
his decision by performing the first work that offered. A load 
of coal was dumped at a fine residence ; he sought, and 
obtained, the job of carrying it into the cellar. Other menial 
work was offered, and he did it. Step by step, onward and 
upward, he advanced, until he became a prosperous and 
wealthy merchant, and purchased the estates which his folly 
once squandered. 

These facts are a signal illustration of the maxim, t; Where 
there 's a will, there 's a way." 

Perhaps the soul asserts itself through this quality as forci- 
bly as it does through any other ; and this is what is needed 
to assure success. While the soul is not an organ, it controls 
and animates all the organs. It is greater than the intellect 
or will, because it is the master of both. Without its inspira- 
tion, the physical and mental powers languish. Hence, any 
attribute through which the soul will specially flash and influ- 
ence, becomes of first importance. 

Pompey was entreated by his friends not to risk his life on 
a tempestuous sea that he might be in Rome at a certain 
time, when his soul bounded to the climax of dignity, invest- 
ing all his powers with greatness, and he replied, "It is neces- 
sary for me to go, but it is not necessary for me to live." 

The great English orator, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, made 
a ridiculous failure of his first attempt to speak in Parliament. 
The sneering laugh of the members mortified him exceedingly, ' 
and, at the same time, aroused the noblest elements of 
humanity within him, so that he exclaimed, as he sat down in 
humiliating confusion, " It is in me and it shall come out." 

And it did come out. His soul took possession of his brain, 
and whipped every faculty to the front, forcing a brilliant 
career, almost without a parallel in history. 

Under the power of heroic decision, he, of whom the school- 
master said when he was a boy, " He is a dunce," became the 
eloquent statesman of whom it is said, " Had his character 
been reliable, he might have ruled the world." 

In like manner, our American Sheridan, the great general, 
turned defeat into victory by his remarkable decision. He 
was miles away from his army when the booming of cannon 



46 LEADERS OF MEN. 

assured him that his men were engaged in a hot battle. Put- 
ting spurs to his horse, he struck into his famous ride down 
the "Winchester Road " toward the seat of conflict. Within 
a few miles he met his beaten and retreating forces inglori- 
ously running from the foe ; whereupon, rising to his full 
height in his saddle, he cried, " Halt ! Halt ! " and commanded 
them to "right about face" and follow him. On, on, he 
dashed, his valiant men rallying at the sound of his voice, and 
inspired with fresh hope of triumph by his decisive act ; nearer 
and nearer to the foe they came, more and more invincible 
under their leader's contagious heroism, until commander and 
men fell upon the foe like an avalanche, surprising them when 
flushed with victory, and completely routing them, horse, 
foot, and dragoon. 

It was when General Grant was fighting the bloody battles 
of the Wilderness, and the whole loyal North was watching 
every movement of his army to learn what hope there was of 
his ever capturing Richmond, that he rose to the sublime 
decision which sent a thrill of joy through the country. " I 
shall fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer.'' That 
settled the fate of the Rebellion ; the people accepted it as the 
harbinger of victory and the return of peace. 

Decision answers the questions : Can you do it ? Will you 
do it ? and answers them in the affirmative. We know better 
than we do ; decision helps us to do even better than we know. 

Grant thought, at the beginning of the late war, that he 
could not command a regiment ; but his decision fitted him in 
two years to lead a thousand regiments. He did better than 
he knew. 

Persons who are weakened by indecision are always sub- 
servient to circumstances ; while circumstances are subservi- 
ent to manly decision. 

It is decision of character which makes a youth proof 
against the lures to excessive play and pleasure, to gaming 
and drink, and to all other forms of temptation that are inim- 
ical to study, uprightness, and virtue. Decision thunders 
"No!" and the devil of temptation flees. It is indecision 
that hesitates, delays, fears, and finally says "Yes," and be- 
comes the slave of immorality or vice. 

Many people, young and old, know what duty is, but fail 
to do it for the want of decision. They know very well what 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 47 

labors and self-denials are necessary to obtain an education, 
master a trade, or attain to excellence in any pursuit ; but 
their ignoble indecision, which is a sort of mental and moral 
debility, disqualifies them for the undertaking. 

" The will, which is the central force of character, must be 
trained to habits of decision ; otherwise, it will neither be able 
to resist evil, nor to follow good/' 

It is not an exhibition of manly or womanly character for 
youth to waste their breath in laments over their present situ- 
ation ; to think if their circumstances, or friends, or talents 
were different, they might achieve something worth record- 
ing. This is indecision, which often leads a" person to think 
that embarrassments are especially numerous in his own ex- 
perience, and that he does not have his full share of advan- 
tages falling to the common lot of humanity. Nothing can be 
more unmanly and belittling. Rise above the unmanly view 
of life ! Decide for the best in everything— and then win it. 

Said Calhoun to his roommate at Yale College: — 

"I am fitting myself for Congress." 

His roommate laughed. 

"Do you doubt it?" exclaimed Calhoun. "If I were not 
convinced that I should be in Congress in six years, I would 
leave college to-day." 

John C. Calhoun was not visionary. With the eye of faith 
he beheld the dome of the capitol in which were spent the 
proudest and best days of his life. He was there within six 
years after he was graduated ; and there he died in the service 
of his country, after forty years of congressional labor. Abil- 
ity, perseverance, decision, and force of character did it. 

Decision is more of the head ; energy more of the heart. 
The latter is " the power to produce positive effects." It is re- 
corded of Hezekiah : "And in every work that he did in the 
service of the house of God and in the law, and in the com- 
mandments to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and 
prospered." 

Doing "with all the heart" is energy. Without it, no one 
prospers in anything. 

It is necessary to maintain decision ; it is the force that 
reduces decision to practice, or supplements it. 

Success comes to the class who pursue their life work 
"with all the heart." 



48 LEADERS OF MEN. 

The motto on the pickaxe well expressed it : "I will find a 
way, or make it." 

The Spartan father understood it when he said to his son, 
who complained that his sword was too short, "Then add a 
step to it." 

Another says : " Hence it is that, inspired hy energy of pur- 
pose, men of comparatively mediocre powers have often been 
enabled to accomplish such extraordinary results. For the 
men who have most powerfully influenced the world have not 
been so much men of genius as men of strong convictions and 
enduring capacity for work, impelled by irresistible energy 
and invincible determination ; such men, for example, as were 
Mohammed, Luther, Knox, Calvin, Loyola, and Wesley." 

The hearts of all these reformers were in their work ; and 
"he who has heart has everything." Hence, in the most im- 
portant of all concerns, this sort of energy is required. 
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." 
God does not accept half-hearted work. His servants must 
throw their whole souls into service they render him, if they 
would count. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might." It 
would be difficult to state the case more strongly. 

God knows exactly the measure of human power that we 
can put into any work and he demands the full measure. 

The noted Nathaniel Bowditch once said to a young man, 
"Never undertake anything but with the feeling that you 
can and will do it." He put the case very much as the Bible 
does. 

About seventy years ago, perhaps longer, a youth of eight- 
een years, residing on Cape Cod, resolved to seek his fortune 
in Boston. He was bright, enterprising, and honest ; and he 
knew too much about a seafaring life to cast his lot there. 
He saw a better opportunity in the capital of his native state, 
and resolved to try there, though he had not a friend to assist 
him. He had in mind no particular calling, but was ready to 
accept any honorable position that might offer. 

So he started for Boston, with only four dollars in his 
pocket, — all the money he could raise. On reaching the city 
he set himself to work at once to find a situation ; and he 
traveled and traveled, applying in vain here and there for a 
place, but finding none. 






DECISION OF CHARACTER. 49 

A single day satisfied him that there was no opening for 
him, and he was strongly tempted to return home, but his 
stout heart rose in rebellion against the thought. He would 
not return to his native town discomfited. He had too much 
force of character for that. He was a live boy, and his en- 
ergy said, "If I can't find a situation, I will make one." 

And he did. He found a board about the right size, which 
he converted into an oyster stand on the corner of a street. 
He borrowed a wheelbarrow and went three miles to an oys- 
ter smack, where he purchased three bushels of the bivalves, 
and wheeled them to his place of business. 

He was a Boston merchant now. He had made a situation 
that he could not find. 

He sold all his oysters on the first day, and was well satis- 
fied with his profits. 

He continued this method of doing business until he had 
laid by one hundred and thirty dollars, with which he pur- 
chased a horse and cart. He removed his place of business, 
also, from out of doors, into a convenient room. 

On the first day in his new place of traffic, he made seven- 
teen dollars; and from that time he continued to enlarge his 
business rapidly, taking on other departments, adding daily 
to his property, until he became a Boston millionaire, blessing 
others with his money, and leaving hundreds of thousands at 
his death to found the Boston University, where young men 
and women are educated for usefulness. 

Such was the career of the late Isaac Bich, an example of 
energy and perseverance worthy of the highest praise. 

When Sir Rowell Buxton was a boy, neighbors thought 
that his great energy, in connection with much waywardness, 
would be his ruin. But his good mother said, " Never mind ; 
he is self-willed now, but you will see that it will turn out 
well in the end.'' 

Subsequently he became very intimate with the Gurney 
family, who were highly respected for their social qualities, 
mental culture, and philanthropy. He married one of the 
daughters, and entered upon his business career with a will. 
His mother's prophecy, that his will power and mighty energy 
would be a blessing in the end, proved true. Some said that 
he would do more work in a given time than any two men in 
England. He became wealthy, was a member of Parliament 



50 LEADERS OF MEN. 

at thirty-two, and a leading spirit of Great Britain there- 
after. 

One of the Gurney family, Priscilla Gurney, entreated him 
on her deathbed, in 1821, "to make the cause of the slave the 
great object of his life." He was already engaged in the 
cause of British emancipation, but her dying words fired his 
heart anew, and he resolved to give himself no rest until the 
shackles were broken from the last slave in the British realm. 
With unsurpassed energy he gave himself to the work year 
after year, and, on the day of his daughter's marriage, August 
1, 1834, he wrote to a friend : " The bride is just gone ; every- 
thing has passed off to admiration ; and there is not a slave 
in the British colonies." 

Such men "never strike sails to a fear'' ; they "come into 
port grandly, or sail with God the seas"; they never join 
" communities," so-called, where everything is held in com- 
mon. Their self-reliance, independence, and force of char- 
acter lifts them high above such dependent relations. 

" We love our upright, energetic men. Pull them this way 
and that way and the other, and they only bend, but never 
break. Trip them down, and in a trice they are on their feet." 

Ferdinand DeLesseps, who is called the Napoleon of engi- 
neering, inherited his tireless energy and indomitable per- 
severance from his father, Count Mathieu DeLesseps, who was 
the architect of the Edinburgh cathedral. That the son 
should possess the talent for undertaking great enterprises, 
and the force of character to push them forward in spite of 
difficulties, was as natural as it was to be like his father. He 
built the Suez canal, valued at fifty million dollars ; and to his 
honor a statue was erected at Port Said. 



CHAPTER II. 

WILLIAM PIERCE PRYE. 



ON SUCCESS HIS LIFE AND CAREER AT COLLEGE — ENTERS THE 

PROFESSION OF THE LAW BEGINNINGS OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE MEMBER 

OF THE PARIS COMMISSION PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE HIS PUBLIC 

SERVICE LOVE OF OUTDOOR LIFE A FISH STORY SOME CHARACTER- 
ISTICS. THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH. 

E. P.- Whipple, the famous essayist, asks and answers this 
question: "What common quality distinguishes men of 
genius from other men, in practical life, in 
science, in letters, in every department of 
human thought and action ? This common 
quality is vital energy of mind, inherent, 
original force of thought, and vitality of 
conception. Men in whom this energy glows 
seem to spurn the limitations of matter, to 
leap the gulf which separates positive knowl- 
edge from discovery, the actual from the 
possible. They give palpable evidence of in- 
finite capacity, of indefinite power of growth. 
This life, this energy, this uprising, aspiring flame of thought, 
has been variously called power of combination, invention, 
creation, insight ; but in the last analysis it is resolved into 
vital energy of soul to think and to do." 

If I were to amend this and state it in fewer words, I 
should say that the essentials of success are integrity of pur- 
pose and persistence in endeavor. 






ILLIAM PIERCE FRYE was born at Lewiston, Maine, 
September 2, 1831. His father, Col. John M. Frye, 
was one of the early settlers of that town, largely 
interested in developing its manufacturing industries, and 
one of its most respected citizens. The grandfather of the 



52 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Senator, Gen. Joseph Frye, was a colonel in the English 
army and a general in the American, during the Revolutionary 
War, receiving in recognition of his military service a grant 
of the town of Fryeburg, Maine. 

William P. graduated at Bowdoin College in 1850. It must 
be confessed that he was not a model student. He was too 
full of animal life and vigor to be content to live laborious 
days and burn the midnight oil over musty books. Not that he 
was entirely negligent in this respect ; but his ability to grasp 
the salient points of a page at a single reading allowed him 
to retain a fair standing in his class and yet to participate 
largely in the sport and frolic of college life, which were, at 
that early period, more to his taste. Traditions of his infrac- 
tions of college discipline, of his valiant leadership of the 
college forces in battle royal against the untutored hordes of 
the town, and of personal encounters in which he distin- 
guished himself, still linger about the halls of that venerable 
institution, and are quoted to his discomfiture by his numerous 
grandsons, who, in succession, have been there in recent years, 
devoting as much attention to athletic as to intellectual de- 
velopment. 

After his graduation Mr. Frye took up his life work in 
earnest, finding the study of the law congenial and absorbing. 
He was fortunate in passing this period of his development 
in the office of William Pitt Fessenden, a master mind, who 
stimulated the young man's interest and aroused his ambition. 

He began the practice of law in 1853. His fine physique, 
magnificent voice, logical mind, and acuteness of perception 
peculiarly fitted him for the duties of an advocate, and his 
services in this capacity were soon much in demand. 

The capacious supreme court room in Androscoggin county 
was the arena of many a famous legal battle, and, as is usual 
in New England shire towns, these often called out great 
numbers of eager listeners. This was especially true when 
Mr. Frye was of counsel. He was noted, not only for his 
eloquence, but for the rapidity with which he was able to 
absorb the facts of a case, and the promptness with which he 
met any new phase of its development. In the cross-exam- 
ination of witness he particularly excelled, by virtue of that 
intuition which alone guides the practitioner safely through 
these troubled waters. 



WILLIAM PIERCE FRYE. 53 

He continued in active practice until 1871, when he was 
elected to a seat in the national House of Representatives. 
During this period he enjoyed a constantly growing business, 
involving affairs of considerable importance, especially in 
connection with the cotton manufacturing corporations, which 
formed the principal industry of the city in which he has 
always resided. In 1867 he was elected attorney-general of 
his state and served in that capacity for three years. 

He was a member of the state legislature in 1861, 1862, 
and 1867. In the latter year he held the three offices of rep- 
resentative, mayor, and attorney-general. 

Mr. Frye was elected a member of the National Repub- 
lican Executive Committee in 1872 ; was re-elected in 1876, 
and again in 1880 ; was a delegate to the National Republican 
Conventions in 1872, 1876, and 1880. In 1881 he was elected 
chairman of the Republican State Committee, succeeding 
Hon. James G. Blaine. 

He was elected a trustee of Bowdoin College in 1880, and 
received the degree of LL.D. from that institution in 1889, 
having previously received the same honor from Bates Col- 
lege. 

He was elected a representative in the Forty-second Con- 
gress, which assembled in December, 1871. He continued to 
occupy a seat in that body until his election to the United 
States Senate, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resigna- 
tion of Hon. James G. Blaine, who had been appointed Sec- 
retary of State. Mr. Frye's committee service in the House 
was such as to necessitate a familiarity with, and a participa- 
tion in, many important subjects of legislation. He was 
chairman of the Library Committee ; served for several years 
on the Judiciary, and was a member of the Committee on 
Ways and Means. During two or three congresses he was 
chairman of the Executive Committee. He took an active 
part in debates, especially on political questions, having a 
keen relish for those exciting impromptu discussions which 
frequently occurred in that body during those days of more 
intense party feeling. It was generally conceded that he 
would have been elected Speaker of the House in the Forty- 
seventh Congress, without opposition on the Republican side, 
had he not resigned before its meeting on account of his elec- 
tion to the Senate. 



54 LEADERS OF MEN. 

He took his seat in that body March 18, 1881 ; was re- 
elected in 1883, in 1888, and in 1895, receiving, with a single 
exception, every vote in both branches of the legislature in 
the latter election. In January, 1901, he was elected for the 
fifth time to the Senate. His term will expire March 3, 1907. 

Senator Frye was appointed by President McKinley a 
member of the commission which met in Paris in September, 
1898, and adjusted terms of peace between the United States 
and Spain. 

He was elected president pro tempore of the Senate in Feb- 
ruary, 1896, and has been since continued in that office. It 
was by virtue of this incumbency that, upon the death of 
Vice-President Hobart, the functions of his office devolved 
upon Senator Frye, who has therefore presided over the delib- 
erations of the Senate during the entire Fifty-sixth Congress. 
His service as chairman of the Committee on Rules of the 
Senate during three congresses, and his work in the codifica- 
tion and revision of the rules of that body in the Forty- 
eighth Congress, had especially equipped him for presiding 
over the Senate, and his administration of the office has been 
entirely acceptable to that body. 

In assuming the chair he lost none of the privileges and 
escaped none of the burdens of the senatorial office. Indeed, 
his responsibilities in that respect were augmented by the 
untimely death of Senator Davis, which entailed upon Sen- 
tor Frye the duties of chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
Relations. This important chairmanship had been placed at 
his command in March, 1897, by the resignation of Senator 
Sherman to enter the Cabinet, but was declined by Senator 
Frye, who preferred to continue at the head of the Committee 
on Commerce, the largest and one of the most important in 
the Senate. 

To this position, which he has held for many years, he has 
given, perhaps, the best work of his life, and in it he has been 
enabled to accomplish much of benefit to the commercial and 
navigation interests of the country. He has given especial 
attention to matters relating to shipping during his entire 
congressional life, and is the acknowledged leader in such 
affairs. Indeed, scarcely a law relating to shipping has been 
enacted during the past twenty years which does not bear the 
marks of his handiwork. 



WILLIAM PIERCE FRYE. 55 

But he has not confined his attention to these interests. 
Looking over the debates of Congress for the last thirty 
years, one cannot fail to note that Senator Frye has done his 
part in molding general legislation. His persistent effort 
through five congresses in respect to the Geneva awards, 
securing at last the rights of the actual losers, is one of his 
important achievements. His efforts toward securing the 
abrogation of the fishery articles in the treaty with Great 
Britain ; his successful work in respect to Samoan affairs, 
securing an honorable settlement of threatening complica- 
tions ; his bill providing for a Congress of American Nations, 
and another for a Maritime Congress ; his Postal Subsidy bill ; 
his Tonnage bill ; his important amendments to the Dingley 
Shipping bill ; his championship of the Nicaragua Canal bill ; 
his speeches in defense of the protective tariff measures, indi- 
cate something of the scope of his efforts. 

As a speaker he commands attention and carries convic- 
tion through his earnestness and evident sincerity. Another 
has said of him : "Senator Frye's style is generally collo- 
quial, not grandiloquent, but yet it has that all-potent ele- 
ment, that mysterious and intangible something or other, 
which is not a physical gift, nor the result of intellectual 
culture, but which charms the ears of his auditors and takes 
the public mind by storm. His arguments are substantial, 
his reasons cogent, his theories plausible, his illustrations apt, 
his resources not those of the dramatist, or the formal rheto- 
rician, but drawn from deep wells of actual personal expe- 
rience and practical observation in the everyday affairs of 
real life, as well as from the exhaustless reservoirs of classic 
and general reading. When he rises to speak he may not 
know in just what exact form of language he is about to 
express himself, but he is sure of certain ideas, great under- 
lying principles of government, of political economy, of Re- 
publicanism, — fundamental truths thoroughly thought out, 
safe springs of action on which he may depend for the inspi- 
ration of the moment." 

Outside the halls of Congress his voice is often heard. At 
many notable public meetings and banquets he has delivered 
speeches on national topics, which have, been widely circu- 
lated by the press. His memorial address on Blaine in Boston 
Music Hall was one of the most elaborate of these. Among 



56 LEADERS OF MEN. 

his more recent orations perhaps, that at the banquet given in 
his honor by the commercial and mercantile bodies of New- 
York city in April, 1899, was the most notable, dealing with 
questions of commercial and national expansion. 

As a campaign orator he is considered one of the most 
effective, and his services are much in demand. During the 
past forty years he has participated in every political cam- 
paign and spoken in nearly every Northern state. 

His fondness for sport and correct habits of life account 
in large measure for his robust health. He rarely fails to 
spend at least two months of each year at his camp by the 
Rangeley Lakes, where he takes the keenest delight in the 
pleasures of the rod and gun and the beauties of nature in 
that unspoiled region. If there is one achievement of his life 
of which he is inclined to boast, it is of having caught the 
largest square-tailed trout ever taken with a fly. And thereby 
hangs a tale. 

Some years ago, at a dinner, the conversation drifted to 
fish stories, and Senator Frye naturally embraced the oppor- 
tunity to inform the company of his good fortune in landing 
a seven pound trout. Prof. Agassiz, who was present, asserted 
that the Senator must be in error, that the fish could not have 
been a true trout. Senator Frye insisted that he knew a trout 
when he saw it. The Professor explained that he referred to 
the Salmo fontinalis. The Senator replied that that was the 
identical fish to which he referred. Agassiz closed the con- 
versation by asserting that it was a scientific fact that the 
Salmo fontinalis never attained the size mentioned. The 
following season the Senator was fortunate enough to catch 
an eight-pound Salmo fontinalis, which he packed in ice and 
sent by express to Prof. Agassiz, who acknowledged his 
defeat in the following laconic expression : " The theory of a 
lifetime kicked to death by a fact." 

Senator Frye's long continuance and many advancements 
in office have not been due to any of the arts popularly attrib- 
uted to politicians, in which, indeed, he is singularly deficient. 
He has been content to give his best efforts to the fulfillment 
of the duties of the various offices he has held, neglecting no 
opportunity to further the interests of individual constit- 
uents, or to promote the welfare of his state and nation, trust- 
ing to the appreciation of those efforts for future honors ; and 







SENATOR FRYE AS PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE. 



THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH. 59 

he has been fortunate in a constituency which has never been 
lacking in such appreciation. 

His influence in Congress has been largely augmented by 
the fact that he has devoted a large share of his attention to 
a single line of legislation, one in which his own state is 
especially interested, that relating to shipping. He has made 
it his business to master details relating to the necessities of 
this great industry and to promote all legislation in its in- 
terest. In these matters the Senate has learned to follow his 
lead with confidence, and that confidence has never been 
violated. 

THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH. 

a BODY for a soul is not more indispensable than a sound 
body for a sound mind. To develop the latter at the 
expense of the former is unfavorable to success. 
Mind and matter are so dependent upon each other that dis- 
ease of one interrupts the functions of the other. Not that a 
strong mind is never found in a frail body ; but this is the 
exception. 

Johnson was in feeble health most of his life ; Dr. Chan- 
ning never knew the happy experience of having a sound 
body for his great mind ; Csesar was subject to epileptic fits, 
and usually celebrated the planning of a battle by going into 
one ; Amos Lawrence, the great merchant of Boston, was a 
confirmed dyspeptic many years, and only lived by carefully 
weighing his food; Pascal was always " sickly," and Pope 
was an invalid when he did his best work. 

After citing all the exceptional examples possible, it is still 
true that brain power has a strong ally in muscular vigor. 
The Broughams, Peels, Palmerstons, Gladstones, Washing- 
tons, Franklins, Websters, Lincolns, Garfields, and Grants 
were as renowned for muscle as brain. Physical power was 
an important factor in their successful careers. 

Nevertheless, there is a large amount of ignorance, even 
among educated people, concerning the laws of health ; and 
there is more disobedience than there is ignorance. Here 
most men and women, including youth of both sexes, know 
better than they do. They violate physical laws knowingly 
and deliberately ; they indulge in excesses, against which 
they know that Nature remonstrates ; they neglect their 



f 



60 LEADERS OF MEN. 

bodies, and overwork their brains, with Nature's signals of 
distress flying before their eyes. Every day they disregard 
known laws of health, all the while knowing just what they 
do, and having a^n inkling, at least, that sure penalties will 
follow. 

The late Dr. Edward Jarvis of Boston wrote : — 

"We see men managing their farms and carrying on their 
mechanical operations in wisdom, while they manage their 
own bodies in folly ; they make such mistakes in the conduct 
and use of their bodies as they would be ashamed to show in 
regard to their wagons, water wheels, or spinning jenny. If 
a weaver, when he has woven his web, should put into his 
loom a parcel of sticks and wire, and then set the loom in 
motion, just for the pleasure of seeing it move ; or, perhaps, 
in the hope that the loom would, out of these hard materials, 
make cloth as well as out of cotton and wool, he would do a 
very foolish act ; but not more foolish than when he has 
eaten enough for nutrition to eat indigestible and innutritious 
matters just for the pleasure of eating. No engineer would 
pour upon the gudgeons and pistons of his engine acids in- 
stead of oil, just for a change, because this would be in 
opposition to his knowledge of the laws of mechanics, and 
spoil his machine. Yet he will pour wine and brandy and 
tobacco juice into his stomach, and tobacco smoke into his 
lungs, which are infinitely more delicate organs than any- 
thing of wood or iron." 

Both ignorance and defiance of physical laws create this 
state of things, especially among the young. The latter class 
are too apt to undervalue health, and even to treat it with in- 
difference, as if it had little or no claim upon their intelli- 
gence. 

There can be few graver errors than this. What though 
they can repeat the names and number of bones of the hand 
or foot, and not know how to use or take care of them ; what 
though they can enumerate the functions of the stomach, and 
not know or care what they put into it ; what though they 
can repeat all the text-books say about the lobes of the lungs, 
and still persist in denying them fresh air and full play ; 
what though they can rehearse all physiological rules in re- 
spect to exercise and sleep, and then pursue their studies so as 
to wholly neglect the first and scrimp the last ; — their knowl- 



THE GOSPEL GF HEALTH. 61 

edge is of no practical value whatever. Just where they 
ought to be benefited by it, they receive no benefit at all. 
Time and breath, spent in learning and reciting, are well- 
nigh wasted. 

What is still more unaccountable is the fact that young 
persons of both sexes — and the same is largely true of older 
persons — appear to think that there is no moral obligation 
resting upon them to be healthy, when they are as really 
bound to observe physical as moral laws. We are in duty 
bound to do all we can for health, as we are to do all we can 
for honesty. There is no more excuse for neglecting the body 
than the soul. Spiritual laws have no better claim upon our 
regard than physical laws. 

Mrs. Edna D. Cheney, writing of schoolgirls, says : " Health 
is the holiness of the body, and every girl should have a high 
standard of perfect health set before her, and be made to feel 
that she has no more right to trifle with and disobey hygienic 
laws than those of morality, or civil society. She should be as 
much ashamed of illness brought on by her own folly as of 
being whipped at school for disobedience to her teacher." 

Mrs. Cheney's rebuke applies to all classes, no less than 
girls. 

We ought to be ashamed of acts that lure to disease, as 
we are of those that lure to vice. If the cultivation of health 
were regarded as a religious duty, we should be as ashamed of, 
and as sorry for, self-imposed diseases, as we are of falsehood 
and overreaching ; and that would show we understood and 
appreciated the subject. 

Many a person has tossed with fever of which he ought to 
be heartily ashamed, because it was induced by inexcusable 
exposure and defiance of the laws of his being. He has 
trampled unblushingly upon a divine lav/, as really as the 
man who patronizes a saloon or a house of ill-fame. It is a 
matter in which conscience ought to remonstrate, and it would 
but for the fact that it is seared, as with a hot iron, on the 
subject. 

Nothing can be more clearly demonstrated than that a 
sound mind must dwell in a sound body in order to do its 
best. 

Matthews says: "We are discovering that though the 
pale, sickly student may win the most prizes in college, it is 



62 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the tough, sinewy one who will win the most prizes in life ; 
and that in every calling, other things being equal, the most 
successful man will be the one who has slept the soundest and 
digested the most dinners with the least difficulty." 

Horace Mann declared that "the spendthrift of health was 
the guiltiest of spendthrifts " ; and he went on to say : " I am 
certain that I could have performed twice the labor, both 
better and with greater ease to myself, had I known as much 
of the laws of health and life at twenty-one as I do now. In 
college I was taught all about the motions of the planets as 
carefully as though they would have been in danger of get- 
ting off the track if I had not known how to trace their orbits ; 
but about my own organization, and the conditions indispen- 
sable to the healthful functions of my own body, I was left 
in profound ignorance. Nothing could be more preposterous ; 
I ought to have begun at home, and taken the stars when it 
should become their turn. 

"The laws of physical health are fixed and uniform ; just 
as inexorable as any laws by which planets move, or plants 
grow. 

"If we wish to be useful, happy, and capable of mental 
progress, we need a physical system well cared for, working 
without friction or disturbance." 

Lord Palmerston, for fifty-seven years England's popular 
premier, may well be cited as an illustration of a sound mind 
in a sound body. 

He entered Parliament at twenty-one years of age, with a 
vow in his heart to serve his country well. For sixty years 
he was identified with the nation's welfare, and performed an 
amount of work that would have utterly exhausted ordinary 
men. He was Secretary of War when Napoleon was over- 
thrown at the battle of Waterloo, and assisted in the vast 
operations of that conflict. When he died he was the most 
popular man in the British realm. 

It was always a subject of inquiry how Lord Palmerston 
maintained a sound body under the burden of such enormous 
labors. The only explanation is that he took excellent care 
of his body. Exercise, with him, was a religious duty. He 
rode horseback, walked, hunted, fished, and studied in every 
way to preserve his health. It was a common thing for him 
to ride off thirty miles on the back of a fleet horse. In a 



THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH. 63 

word, he adopted such a course of living as he thought would 
maintain a sound body, and rejected all others. 

It is more important to know how to have and keep a sound 
body than how to get riches and keep them. A writer says : 
" There is this difference between the two temporal blessings 
— health and money : money is the most envied but the least 
enjoyed ; health is the most enjoyed but the least envied ; and 
this superiority of the latter is still more obvious, when we 
reflect that the poorest man would not part with health for 
money, but that the richest would gladly part with all his 
money for health." 

A nutritious diet is indispensable to a sound body. This is 
substantially correct, whether a person lives indoors or out- 
doors. Scholars need it no less than mechanics, because it is 
the only way to make muscle. Both sexes need it, because 
food makes feminine as it does masculine muscle. There is 
a singular impression abroad that girls require less substan- 
tial food than boys ; many parents think so. So we have the 
spectacle of boys consuming beef and bread, baked beans 
and a boiled dish, while many girls nibble bread daintily, and 
eat " goodies " as if heaven had prescribed a different diet for 
them. A grave error this. Girls require as nourishing food 
as boys. Let boys eat as girls do, and they would be no more 
robust. Array a boy in girls' apparel, hang six or seven 
pounds of skirts upon his hips, rig his head with folderols, tell 
him to avoid romping, play the lady in school and out, and 
adopt a diet of bread and cake, and six months will be long 
enough to convert him into a flabby, puny, pitiable specimen 
of humanity. 

On the other hand, put coat and trousers upon a girl, with 
thick-soled shoes, and a real boy's hat ; tell her to run and 
play, and work in the field, garden, or woods, and to eat gen- 
erously of beef and bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, and 
drink milk by the pint instead of tea and coffee, and in six 
months the rose will blush upon her fat cheeks, her eye will 
sparkle with fun and life, her muscles wax firm and strong, 
and her physical power will be sufficient to shame the strength- 
less fellow, who has been waddling about in girls' clothes, try- 
ing to live on girls' fare. 

A few years since, Miss Nutting, a teacher in Mount Hol- 
yoke College, wrote : — 



64 LEADERS OF MEN. 

" Our physician attributes a great part of the ill-health 
from which the young ladies suffer, to errors in dress — tight 
lacing, long and heavy skirts dragging from the hips, and the 
great weight of clothing upon the lower portion of the back, 
and insufficient covering for the lower extremities." 

Another fruitful source of evil, for which parents are 
largely responsible, is the supplying of schoolgirls with 
quantities of rich pastry, cakes, and sweetmeats, which are 
eaten between meals and often just before going to bed. In 
one instance, a young lady, previously in perfect health, in 
the course of two years made herself a confirmed dyspep- 
tic, simply by indulging, night after night, in the indiges- 
tible dainties with which she was constantly supplied from 
home.'' 

Facts prove that girls must have as sensible, nutritious 
diet as boys. 

A generous amount of sleep also assists in making a sound 
body. Nature will not be cheated out of sleep without pro- 
test any more than she will out of food. Scrimp the hours of 
sleep and the consequences may be even worse than those 
that follow a meager diet, since insanity is more to be dreaded 
than starvation. 

The celebrated Dr. Richardson, of London, maintains that 
adults in middle life require an average of eight hours' sleep 
daily, summer and winter, and that young people require 
more, — nine and even ten hours. Sleep is "nerve food," — 
"Nature's sweet restorer," — and without it there cannot be a 
sound body any more than a sound mind. Turning night to 
day in frolic, study, or work, therefore, is abusing Nature, 
for she demands sleep from nine o'clock in the evening to six 
in the morning, regularly and unalterably, as sure as the 
clock can mark the time, as one of the conditions of a sound 
body. "Early to bed," in the old saw, is well enough ; but 
"early to rise," if it means getting up a long time before 
breakfast for study or work, is poor counsel. It will not make 
a man " healthy, wealthy and wise." 

Air and exercise are indispensable. We can live longer 
without food and sleep than we can without air. Indeed, food 
and sleep fulfill their mission well only by the aid of pure, 
fresh air. People, old and young, deny themselves pure air 
and exercise, sleep and rest, and then ache and battle with 



THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH. 65 

disease the remainder of their days and charge the result to 
brain work. 

It is of no consequence what the pursuit of man or woman 
may be, health and strength cannot be preserved without 
constant watch and care. 

We often wonder that such men as Jay Gould, bearing the 
burden of millions in business, are not crushed under its 
weight before they have lived half their days ; but one reason 
is found in the good care they take of themselves. 

A friend of Mr. Gould says : — . 

" During office hours he is one of the hardest working men 
in the world ; outside his office he never talks and probably 
seldom thinks of business. He gives himself up to his books, 
his pictures, his flowers, his yacht, and, above all, to the com- 
panionship of his family. He is of abstemious habits, a total 
abstainer from intoxicating liquors and tobacco. His food is 
always plain. He usually rises before six in the morning, and 
is generally asleep soon after ten at night. His family rela- 
tions have always been a model of purity and kindly affec- 
tion." 

At the present day there is much talk about overworked 
pupils in our schools. It is claimed that too close and pro- 
tracted study breaks down scholars — that our system of edu- 
cation is hard upon the nerves and health of students of both 
sexes. We very much question the ground of this complaint. 
The average student, male or female, is not overworked. 
Other things are the cause of poor health among this class, 
such as improper dress and diet, late hours, bad habits, and 
general neglect of the laws of health. In other words, the 
real cause of the poor health of most students is found at 
home, and not in the schoolroom. 

Miss Adelia A. F. Johnson, a professor in Oberlin College, 
wrote as follows of female students: — 

"When mothers are able to send us strong, healthy girls, with 
simple habits and unperverted tastes, we will return to them 
and the world, strong healthy women, fitted physically and 
mentally for woman's work. We believe that more girls are 
benefited than are injured by the regimen of a well-regulated 
school, and our belief is founded upon years of observation. 
The number is not small of girls who have come to us, pale, 
nervous, and laboring under many of the ills of life, to whom 



06 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



the regularity that must be observed in a large school, but, 
most of all, the stimulus of systematic brain work upon the 
body, has proved most salutary." 

Mrs. Mary E. Beedy, who has enjoyed superior opportuni- 
ties to learn of English customs and schools, writes: — 

" The importance of health is a dominant idea in the wnole 
nation. Children are trained into habits of out-of-door exer- 
cise till they get an appetite for it, as they have for their food; 
and it is not unusual to hear an Englishwoman say, ' I would 
as soon go without my lunch as without a walk of an hour 
and a half in the day.' And the habits of the upper class per- 
colate down through all ranks of life. The schools that expect 
to get the daughters of the best families must show the best 
results in health. My own experience would lead me most 
unhesitatingly to say that regular mental occupation, well 
arranged, conduces wholly to the health of a girl, and boy, 
too, in every way, and that girls who have well-regulated 
mental work are far less liable to fall into hysterical fancies 
than those who have not such occupation."' 

The attempt to make study responsible for ill-health, which 
is the legitimate product of ignorance or defiance of physical 
laws, can be readily controverted by recurring to facts. 

We have spoken of Jay Gould as a conspicuous figure on 
Wall Street who has observed the laws of health. That a 
poor boy reared on a farm, with no schooling except the prim- 
itive district school, and a few months' study of civil engineer- 
ing should become the " Money King of Wall Street," and the 
"Napoleon of American Finance," before he was forty-five 
years old, is a fact that challenges examination. How was 
such an experience made possible? No one helped him to this 
position. Certain elements of character, as business tact, 
observation, industry, sagacity, temperance, and self-denial 
on the lines of ease, appetite, and ambition, explain his un- 
usual career. What a university has been to the education of 
some men, that has Wall Street been to the education of 
Gould. Business has been his college. 



CHAPTER III. 

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 



HIS DEFINITION OF SUCCESS BOYHOOD SCHOOL DAYS COLLEGE 

CAREER IN PRIZE CONTESTS — FIRST POLITICAL MEETING THE YOUNG 

LAWYER NEBRASKA POLITICS ELECTED TO CONGRESS — AS EDITOR — 

NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT HIS DEFEAT CAMPAIGN OF 1900 THE 

MAN. HONESTY AS AN ELEMENT OF SUCCESS. 

There are three necessary elements in any honorable suc- 
cess : first, honesty ; second, industry ; and third, ability. I 
might say that the honesty and industry be- 
ing granted, the success will ordinarily be 
measured by the ability, but no amount of 
ability can make up for the lack of either 
honesty or industry. 

Second, large successes are attainable by 
great ability or by special opportunity. I do 
not speak of those successes which are at- 
tained by favors secured from the govern- 
ment, or by the use of illegal or immoral 
means. Sometimes great financial successes 
are secured by an accidental discovery of the precious metals, 
by a fortunate investment in a growing locality, or by an 
invention or the purchase of a patent, — but the element of 
chance enters into these so largely that no rule could be made 
for such instances. 





ILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN was born in Salem, Illi- 
nois, March 19, 1860. He was sturdy, round-limbed, 
and fond of play. There is a tradition that his appe- 
tite, which has since been a constant companion, developed 
very early. The pockets of his first trousers were always filled 
with bread, which he kept for an emergency. One of the 



68 LEADERS OF MEN. 

memories belonging to this period was his ambition to be a 
minister, but this soon gave place to determination to become a 
lawyer "like father." This purpose was a lasting one, and 
his education was directed toward that end. 

His father purchased a farm of five hundred acres, one 
mile from the village, and when William was six years old the 
family removed to their new home. Here he studied, worked 
and played, until ten } T ears of age, his mother being his 
teacher. He learned to read quite early ; after committing his 
lessons to memory, he stood upon a little table and spoke them 
to his mother. This was his first recorded effort at speech- 
making. His work was feeding the deer, which his father 
kept in a small park, helping care for the pigs and chickens, 
in short, the variety of work known as "doing chores." His 
favorite sport was rabbit hunting with dogs. It is not certain 
that these expeditions were harmful to the game, but they have 
furnished his only fund of adventure. 

At the age of ten William entered the public school at 
Salem, and, during his five years' attendance, was not an es- 
pecially brilliant pupil, though he never failed in an examina- 
tion. In connection with his school, he developed an interest 
in the work of literary and debating societies. 

His father's Congressional campaign in 1872 was his first 
political awakening, and from that time on he always cher- 
ished the thought of entering public life. His idea was to first 
win a reputation and secure a competency at the bar, but he 
seized the unexpected opportunity which came to him in 1890. 

At fourteen he become a member of the Cumberland Pres- 
byterian Church. Later, he joined the First Presbyterian 
Church at Jacksonville, Illinois, and, upon his removal to 
Nebraska, brought his letter to the First Presbyterian Church 
of Lincoln, to which he still belongs. 

At fifteen he entered Whipple Academy, the preparatory de- 
partment of Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Illinois, and with 
this step a changed life began. Vacations found him at home, 
but for eight years he led the life of a student, and then took up 
the work of his profession. Six years of his school life were 
spent in Jacksonville, in the home of Dr. Hiram K. Jones, a 
relative. The atmosphere of this home had its influence upon 
the growing lad. Dr. Jones is a man of strong character, of 
scholarly tastes, and of high ideals, and during the existence 



WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 69 

of the Concord school was a lecturer upon Platonic Philoso- 
phy. His wife, too, was a woman of rare attainments, and, 
having no children, they gave the youth a home in the fullest 
sense of the word. 

His parents wished him to take a classical course and, while 
sometimes grumbling over his Latin and Greek, he has since 
recognized the wisdom of their choice. Of these two lan- 
guages, Latin was his favorite. He had a strong preference 
for mathematics, and especially for geometry, and has be- 
lieved that the mental discipline acquired in this study has 
since been useful in argument. He was, too, an earnest stu- 
dent in political economy. This entrance to college life brings 
to mind an incident which shows both the young man's rapid 
growth and his father's practical views. During the first year 
of his absence, he discovered, as holidays drew near, that his 
trousers were becoming too short, and wrote home for money 
to buy a new pair. His father responded that as it was so 
near vacation he need not make any purchase until he reached 
home, and added: " My son, you may as well learn now, that 
people will measure you by the length of your head, rather 
than by the length of your breeches." 

As to college athletics, he played very little at baseball or 
at football, but was fond of foot-racing and of jumping. Three 
years after graduation, on Osage Orange Day, he won a medal 
for the broad or standing jump, in a contest open to students 
and to alumni. The medal records twelve feet and four inches 
as the distance covered. 

A prize contest always fired William's ambition. It may 
interest the boys who read these pages to know of his record 
on this point, and to note his gradual rise. During his first 
year at the academy he declaimed Patrick Henry's master- 
piece and not only failed to win a prize, but ranked well down 
in the list. Nothing daunted, the second year found him 
again entered with "The Palmetto and the Pine" as his sub- 
ject. This time he ranked third. The next year, when a 
freshman, he tried for a prize in Latin prose, and won half 
of the second prize. Later in the year he declaimed " Ber- 
nardo del Carpio," and gained the second prize. In his sopho- 
more year he entered another contest, with an essay on the 
not altogether novel subject, "Labor." This time the first prize 
rewarded his work. An oration upon "Individual Powers" 



70 LEADERS OF MEN. 

gave him the first prize in the junior year. A part of this 
prize was a volume of Bryant's poems, containing his favorite 
poem, an ode to a waterfowl, which concludes : — 

" lie who, from zone to zone, 
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, 
In the long way that I must tread alone, 
Will lead my steps aright." 

The winning of the Junior prize entitled him to represent 
Illinois College in the intercollegiate oratorical contest which 
was held at Galeshurg, Illinois, in the fall of 1880. His oration 
was upon " Justice," and was awarded the second prize of fifty 
dollars. Gen. John C. Black, of Illinois, was one of the judges 
in this contest and marked Mr. Bryan one hundred on delivery. 
Upon invitation of Mr. Black, the young man called at the 
hotel and received many valuable suggestions upon the art of 
speaking. At the time of graduation he was elected class 
orator by his class, and, having the highest rank in scholar- 
ship during the four years' course, delivered the valedictory. 
Upon entering the academy, he joined the Sigma Pi society, 
and was an active member for six years, profiting much by 
the training in essay, declamation and debate. 

During the summer of 1880, Mr. Bryan attended his first 
political meeting. The details of this gathering are here re- 
corded for the encouragement of young speakers. He was to 
make a democratic speech at a farmers' picnic near Salem, 
and the bills announced two other speakers, Mr. Bryan stand- 
ing third upon the list. Upon reaching the grove, he found 
the two speakers and an audience of four, namely, the owner 
of the grove, one man in control of a wheel of fortune, and 
two men in charge of a lemonade stand. After waiting an 
hour for an audience which failed to come, the meeting ad- 
journed sine die, and Mr. Bryan went home. Later in the 
fall, however, he made four speeches for Hancock and English, 
the first being delivered in the court house at Salem. 

When fall came, he entered the Union College of Law at 
Chicago. Out of school hours his time was spent in the office 
of ex-Senator Lyman Trumbull, who had been a political friend 
of Mr. Bryan's father. This acquaintance, together with the 
fact that a warm friendship existed between Mr. Bryan and 
his law school classmate, Henry Trumbull, the judge's son, led 



WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 71 

to the establishment of a second foster home — a home in which 
he and his family have ever found a cordial welcome. In this 
home, but lately bereft of its head, he spent his first Sabbath 
after the Democratic National Convention. 

Mr. Bryan stood well in law school, taking an especial in- 
terest in constitutional law. Here again, he was connected 
with the debating society of the college, and took an active 
part in its meetings. At graduation, his thesis was a defense 
of the jury system. His first fee was earned in the County 
Court at Salem. 

To these years of study belong many things which are of 
domestic interest, but which are too trivial for the public eye. 
One may be ventured upon however. Many people have re- 
marked upon the fondness which Mr. Bryan shows for quoting 
Scripture. This habit is one of long standing, as the following 
circumstance shows. The time came when it seemed proper 
to have a little conversation with Mr. Baird, his wife's 
father, and this was something of an ordeal. In his di- 
lemma, William sought refuge in the Scriptures, and began : 
" Mr. Baird, I have been reading proverbs a good deal lately, 
and find that Solomon says: 'Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a 
good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord!" " Mr. Baird being 
something of a Bible scholar himself, replied, " Yes, I believe 
Solomon did say that, but Paul suggests that, while he that 
marrieth doeth well, he that marrieth not doeth better." This 
was disheartening, but the young man saw his way through. 
" Solomon would be the best authority upon the point," he 
rejoined, "because Paul was never married, while Solomon 
had a number of wives." After this friendly tilt the matter 
was satisfactorily arranged. 

On July 4, 1883, Mr. Bryan began the practice of his pro- 
fession in Jacksonville, Illinois. Desk room was obtained in 
the office of Brown & Kirby, one of the leading firms in the 
city, and the struggle encountered by all young professional 
men began. The first six months were rather trying to his 
patience, and he was compelled to supplement his earnings by 
a small draft upon his father's estate. Toward the close of 
the year, he entered into correspondence with his former law 
school classmate, Henry Trumbull, then located at Albuquer- 
que, New Mexico, and discussed with him the advisability of 
removing to that territory. After the 1st of January, how- 



72 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ever, clients became more numerous, and he felt encouraged 
to make Jacksonville his permanent home. The following 
spring he took charge of the collection department of Brown 
& Kirby's office, and in a little more than a year his income 
seemed large enough to support two. During the summer of 
1884 a modest home was planned and built, and on October 1, 
1884, he married. 

Three years after graduation, Mr. Bryan attended the com- 
mencement at Illinois College, delivered the Master's oration, 
and received the degree. His subject on that occasion was 
"American Citizenship." 

In the summer of 1887, legal business called him to Kansas 
and Iowa, and a Sabbath was spent in Lincoln, Nebraska, with 
a law school classmate, Mr. A. R. Talbot. Mr. Bryan was 
greatly impressed with the beauty and business enterprise of 
Lincoln, and with the advantages which a growing capital 
furnishes for a young lawyer. He returned to Illinois full of 
enthusiasm for the West, and perfected plans for his removal 
thither. No political ambitions entered into this change of 
residence, as the city, county and state were strongly Repub- 
lican. He arrived in Lincoln, October 1, 1887, and a partner- 
ship was formed with Mr. Talbot. As Mr. Bryan did not share 
in the salary which Mr. Talbot received as a railway attorney, 
he had to begin again at the bottom of the ladder. At the 
time of his election to Congress his practice was in a thriv- 
ing condition, and fully equal to that of any man of his age 
in the city. 

During the spring following a second house was built, 
and the family reunited in their western home. The Bryan 
home is a comfortable dwelling, but not in any way a pre- 
tentious one. The large library in which Mr. Bryan spends 
most of his time has, as its most notable feature, three large 
portraits of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln — Jefferson, 
significantly enough, occupying the central place. The books 
that fill the shelves are, in the main, devoted to political econ- 
omy and American history, though some of the standard nov- 
elists are also represented. It is, however, the library of a 
serious man, with whom the political life of his own country 
is the absorbing passion. 

Mr. Bryan became actively connected with the Democratic 
organization in Nebraska immediately after coming to the 



WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 73 

state, his first political speech being made at Seward in 
the spring of 1888. Soon afterward he went as a delegate to 
the state convention ; this gave him an acquaintance with the 
leading Democrats of the state and resulted in a series of 
speeches. He made a canvass of the First Congressional dis- 
trict that fall in behalf of Hon. J. Sterling Morton, and also 
visited some thirty counties throughout the state. Mr. Mor- 
ton was defeated by thirty-four hundred, the district being 
normally Republican. 

When the campaign of 1890 opened, there seemed small 
hope of carrying the district and there was but little rivalry 
for the nomination. Mr. Bryan was selected without opposi- 
tion, and at once began a vigorous campaign. An invitation 
to joint debate was issued by his committee and accepted by 
his opponent, Hon. W. J. Connell, of Omaha, who then repre- 
sented the district. These debates excited attention through- 
out the state. The first debate of this series is regarded as 
marking an important epoch in Mr. Bryan's life. The meet- 
ing took place in Lincoln, and he had the opening and the 
closing speeches. The hall was packed with friends of both 
candidates and applause was quite evenly divided until the 
closing speech. The people had not expected such a summing 
up of the discussion ; each sentence contained an argument ; 
the audience was surprised, pleased, and enthusiastic. The 
occasion was a Chicago convention in miniature, and was sat- 
isfactory to those most concerned. In addition to these eleven 
joint contests, Mr. Bryan made a thorough canvass, speaking 
about eighty times and visiting every city and village in the 
district. Though these debates were crisp and sharp in argu- 
ment, they were marked by the utmost friendliness between 
the opponents. 

When the returns were all in, it was found that Mr. Bryan 
was elected by a plurality of 6,713. Desiring to give his entire 
time to his Congressional work, he, soon after election, so 
arranged his affairs as to retire from practice, although re- 
taining a nominal connection with the firm. 

In the speakership caucus with which Congress opened. 
Mr. Bryan supported Mr. Springer, in whose district he had 
lived when at Jacksonville ; in the House, he voted for Mr. 
Crisp, the caucus nominee. Mr. Springer was made chairman 
of the Committee on Ways and Means, and it was largely 



74 LEADERS OF MEN. 

through his influence that Mr. Bryan was given a place upon 
that committee. His first speech of consequence was the tariff 
speech of March 16, 1892. This was the second important 
event in his career as a public speaker. The place which he 
held upon the Ways and Means Committee is rarely given to a 
new member, and he wished the speech to justify the appoint- 
ment. 

It is perhaps unnecessary to comment at length upon 
the reception accorded this speech, as the press at the time 
gave such reports that the occasion will probably be remem- 
bered by those who read this sketch. This speech increased 
his acquaintance with public men, and added to his strength 
at home. More than one hundred thousand copies were cir- 
culated by members of Congress. Upon his return to Ne- 
braska, he was able to secure re-election in a new district (the 
state having been reapportioned in 1891), which that year gave 
the Republican state ticket a plurality of 0,500. His opponent 
this time was Judge A. W. Field of Lincoln. The Demo- 
cratic committee invited the Republicans to join in arranging 
series of debates, and this invitation was accepted. This was 
even a more bitter contest than the campaign of 1890, Mr. 
McKinley; Mr. Foraker and others being called to Nebraska 
to aid the Republican candidate. Besides the eleven debates, 
which aroused much enthusiasm, Mr. Bryan again made a 
thorough canvass of the district. The victory was claimed 
by both sides until the Friday following the election, when the 
result was determined by official count, Mr. Bryan receiving 
a plurality of 140. 

In the Fifty-Third Congress, Mr. Bryan was reappointed 
upon the Ways and Means Committee and assisted in the 
preparation of the Wilson bill. He was a member of the sub- 
committee which drafted the income tax portion of the bill. 
In the spring of 1893, through the courtesy of the State De- 
partment, Mr. Bryan obtained a report from the several Eu- 
ropean nations which collect an income tax, and the results of 
this research were embodied in the Congressional Records 
during the debate. He succeeded in having incorporated in 
the bill a provision borrowed from the Prussian law whereby 
the citizens who have taxable incomes make their own returns 
and those whose incomes are within the exemption are re- 
lieved from annoyance. On behalf of the committee, Mr. 



WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 75 

Bryan closed the debate upon the income tax, replying to Mr. 
Cockran. 

During the discussion of the Wilson bill, Mr. Bryan spoke 
in its defense. His principal work of the term, however, was 
in connection with monetary legislation. His speech of Au- 
gust 16, 1893, in opposition to the unconditional repeal of the 
Sherman law, brought out even more hearty commendation 
than his first tariff speech. Of this effort, it may be said that 
it contained the results of three years of careful study upon 
the money question. 

While in Congress he made a fruitless effort to secure the 
passage of the following bill : — 

" Be it enacted, etc. : That section 800 of the Revised Statutes 
of the United States, of 1878, be amended by adding thereto the 
words, " In civil cases the verdict of three-fourths of the jurors 
constituting the jury shall stand as the verdict of the jury, and 
such a verdict shall have the same force and effect as a unan- 
imous verdict." 

The desire to have the law changed so as to permit less than 
a unanimous verdict in civil cases was one which he had long 
entertained. In February, 1890, in response to a toast at a bar 
association banquet in Lincoln, he spoke upon the jury sys- 
tem, advocating the same reform. 

Besides the work mentioned, Mr. Bryan spoke briefly upon 
several other questions, namely, in favor of the election of 
United States Senators by a direct vote of the people, and in 
favor of the anti-option bill; in opposition to the railroad pool- 
ing bill and against the extension of the Pacific liens. 

In the spring of 1894, Mr. Bryan announced that he would 
not be a candidate for re-election to Congress, and later 
decided to stand as a candidate for the United States Senate. 
He was nominated for that office by the unanimous vote 
of the Democratic state convention. While the Republi- 
cans made no nomination, it seemed certain that Mr. Thurs- 
ton would be their candidate and the Democratic committee 
accordingly issued a challenge to him for a series of debates. 
The Republicans were also invited to arrange a debate be- 
tween Mr. McKinley and Mr. Bryan, Mr. McKinley having at 
that time an appointment to speak in Nebraska. The latter 
invitation was declined, but two meetings were arranged with 
Mr. Thurston. These were the largest political gatherings 



76 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ever held in the state and were as gratifying to the friends of 
Mr. Bryan as his previous debates. During the campaign, 
Mr. Bryan made a canvass of the state, speaking four or five 
hours each day, and sometimes riding thirty miles over rougli 
roads between speeches. At the election, Nebraska shared in 
the general landslides; the Republicans had a large majority 
in the Legislature and elected Mr. Thurston. 

This defeat was a disappointment, but it did not discourage 
Mr. Bryan: he received the votes of all the Democrats and of 
nearly half of the Populist members. It might be suggested 
here that while Mr. Bryan had never received a nomination 
from the Populist party, he had been, since 1892, materially 
aided by individual members of that organization. In Ne- 
braska, the Democratic party has been in the minority, and as 
there are several points of agreement between it and the 
Populist party, Mr. Bryan advocated co-operation between the 
two. In the spring of 1893, he received the support of a 
majority of the Democratic members of the Legislature, but, 
when it became evident that no Democrat could be elected, he 
assisted in the election of Senator Allen, a Populist. Again, 
in 1894, in the Democratic state convention, he aided in 
securing the nomination of a portion of the Populist ticket, 
including Mr. Holcomb, Populist candidate for Governor. The 
cordial relations which existed between the Democrats and 
Populists in Nebraska were a potent influence in securing his 
nomination at Chicago. 

On September 1, 1894, Mr. Bryan became chief of the edi- 
torial staff of the Omaha World-Herald, and from that date 
until the national convention of 1900 gave a portion of his 
time to this work. This position enabled him daily to reach 
a large number of people in the discussion of public questions 
and also added considerably to his income. While the con- 
tract fixed a certain amount of editorial matter as a minimum, 
his interest in the work was such that he generally exceeded 
rather than fell below the required space. 

After the adjournment of Congress, Mr. Bryan, on his way 
home, lectured at Cincinnati, Nashville, Tenn., Little Rock, 
Ark., and at several points in Missouri, arriving in Lincoln, 
March 19, his thirty-fifth birthday. The Jefferson Club 
tendered him a reception and an opera house packed with an 
appreciative audience rendered this a very gratifying occasion 



WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 77 

to Mr. Bryan. As he was no longer in public life, and could 
show no favors in return, the disinterested friendship shown 
will always be remembered with pleasure. He chose as his 
theme, " Thomas Jefferson still lives," and, after reviewing 
the work of the Fifty-Third Congress, discussed at length the 
principles of his patron saint. 

Mr. Bryan intended to resume the practice of law and re- 
open his office. At this time, however, the contest for 
supremacy in the Democratic party had begun in earnest and 
calls for speeches were so numerous and so urgent that it 
seemed best to devote his time to lecturing and to the public 
discussion of the money question. Many of the free speeches 
were made en route to lecture engagements, and never at any 
time was he under the direction of, or in the pay of, any silver 
league or association of persons pecuniarily interested in 
silver. During the interim between the adjournment of Con- 
gress and the Chicago convention he spoke in all the states of 
the West and South, and became acquainted with those most 
prominently connected with the silver cause. 

When the Democratic National convention met in Chicago 
on July 7, 1896, it was well known that a factional fight would 
be precipitated between the " free-silver coinage " and " sound 
money " wings of the party. The East was for "sound 
money," the West and South for "free-silver coinage." The 
ablest leaders of all sections were in the front as advocates of 
their respective doctrines. They came into the convention 
determined to fight to the last for what they believed to be 
cardinal principles of the party. 

It was on the third day's session of the convention that the 
crucial moment was reached, and Mr. Bryan made the great 
forensic effort which carried the convention by storm and 
made him its nominee for President. Even the attention 
given to Tillman and Hill, and the storm of demonstration 
that greeted Russell's peroration, was quickly submerged by 
that which welcomed the appearance of William J. Bryan. 
The thousands who peered forward to catch the first sentence 
of this man were not disappointed. Nearly every sentence 
was received with ringing applause and at times the approval 
was so boisterous and continuous as to interrupt his torrent of 
eloquence for several minutes. 

The story of what followed and of the famous campaign 



78 LEADERS OF MEN. 

of 1896 is now a part of the history of American politics. Mr. 
Bryan began his bold and unique campaign almost imme- 
diately by an invasion of " the enemy's country," while his 
return journey consisted of station receptions and platform 
speeches, with longer and more deliberate addresses at prin- 
cipal cities. But with all his popularity and magnetism he 
could not allay that opposition to his principles and platform 
claimed to be of a socialistic and revolutionary nature, and 
so victory escaped him. 

The defeat of 1896 had not in the least affected Mr. Bryan's 
belief in the future triumphs of his doctrines, but, if any- 
thing, only the more fully imbued him with faith in his cause. 
Though relegated to private life, he could find pleasure only 
in industrious activity. He indulged in authorship, prepared 
instructive lectures, delivered a series of political addresses 
in various parts of the country, and was in daily prepara- 
tion for a renewal of his battle in 1900. 

When the Democratic National convention met at Kansas 
City, July 4, 1900, the situation as to presidential nominee 
was without question or doubt. No other name than Bryan's 
was broached. The convention was organized in his interest, 
and, when the roll of states was made, he received the full 
vote of every delegation. 

In the campaign that followed Mr. Bryan was defeated, 
but, under all the circumstances, he made a very brilliant and 
remarkable contest. His defeat, nevertheless, was complete 
and decisive. He was embarrassed by the multiplicity of his 
issues. The load was too heavy for any candidate that ever 
lived. The only wonder is that Mr. Bryan carried it so well. 
He made perhaps more out of the situation than anyone else 
could have done. This accomplished, he accepted the situa- 
tion like a man of splendid poise, and took up the duties of a 
vocation that affords ample opportunity to the man of civic 
virtues for the continued exercise of political power. 

No one can understand the character of William Jen- 
nings Bryan, who does not recognize his reckless sincerity. 
Right or wrong, he is honest ; he is of such a nature that he 
cannot be otherwise; and all things, for good or for evil, for 
success or for defeat, must subordinate themselves to his per- 
sonal conception of duty. There is law within him. 

Mr. Bryan is a mid-continental personality. He is conserv- 



WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 79 

ative and slow, rather than impulsive. He has all the angu- 
larity of the untraveled American. He fears innovations 
upon the old order of things. To his mind the Republican 
party represents a revolutionary idea ; its policy of industrial 
concentration, a war upon the competitive system ; its colonial 
policy, a polyglot empire ; its gold standard and its national 
bank currency, a conspiracy of dealers in money against the 
actual producers of wealth. To Mr. Bryan's mind these poli- 
cies are all symptoms of the swift approach of monarchy. 
They are political, industrial, and financial experiments con- 
demned by the past. In this sense Mr. Bryan stands for the 
United States of the past ; is essentially an old-fashioned 
statesman, full of American prejudice and American con- 
fidence. 

Trace his career from country school to supreme political 
leadership, and it will reveal at every point the patient plan- 
ning of a wholesome ambition for public life. There never 
was a political career less accidental. There never was a 
politician less temperamental. The study and practice of elo- 
cution, the study of law, the study of public questions — all 
these were carefully considered preparations for political 
leadership. Impulse had little to do with them. The boy 
planned what the man should be. Mr. Bryan's favorite quota- 
tion reveals his theory of life : — 

" We build the ladder by which we rise 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
And mount to the summit round by round." 

Then Mr. Bryan went to live in Lincoln, Nebraska. Again 
he struggled for an honest law practice, and again he became 
self-supporting, although at first he had to live on two meals a 
day and sleep in his office. He was little more than a boy in 
years and the birth of three children made his task harder. 
But no man ever heard him whimper or complain. He was 
following out his life's plan with sturdy cheerfulness. 

There was a corrupt political gang in Mr. Bryan's ward. 
He decided to fight it. On election day he remained at the 
polling place. Night came and he was still at his post. It 
was not until daybreak that he returned to his wife and told her 
that the corrupt ward leader had been beaten by a few votes. 
Nothing could drive him away, not even hunger, until the last - 



80 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ballot had been honestly counted and declared. This was the 
beginning of his career in practical politics. 

The multiplication is as correct in the nighttime as it is in 
the daytime. It works as well in China as in America. So 
it is with all sound principles — they are universal. Mr. Bryan 
has based his life on principles and he relies on time and the 
intelligence of the plain people as his sure allies. He scorns 
neutrality, that stagnant home of those who are neither great 
enough for love nor strong enough for hate. 

A pen picture of Mr. Bryan at home, among his children 
or with his neighbors, or on his well-kept farm, would reveal 
a kindly, upright, debt-paying, unassuming citizen, full of a 
gentle, rollicking humor— a man without an impure thought 
or an impure act. It would portray a profoundly religious 
Presbyterian, without cant or presumptuous piety ; a man 
who neither drinks alcohol nor smokes tobacco, and yet does 
not deny other men the right to do so — frequently offering 
cigars to his friends ; — a graceful horseman, an expert hunter, 
a generous host. His books and lectures have given him a 
large income, but he has spent more than half of it in estab- 
lishing college and school prizes and in contributions to polit- 
ical organizations. Although he has been lawyer, editor, 
member of Congress and a successful author and lecturer, his 
entire wealth to-day is exceedingly moderate. 

But these are not the things that show Bryan the man, as 
the public should know him. They relate rather to his pri- 
vate life ; and a man may have two natures, one private and 
the other public. Private virtue and public virtue are not in- 
separable. A man may be true to his wife and children and 
neighbors and yet be quite capable of wronging a stranger. 

Mr. Bryan's three great attributes are deliberation, de- 
cency, and honesty. He is intensely American in all that 
distinguishes an American from a European. He has the same 
square-jawed courage, broad humanity, and quaint dignity 
that made Abraham Lincoln the typical American of his day. 
He has Lincoln's deep religious feeling and Lincoln's unwaver- 
ing faith in the Declaration of Independence as a sure political 
guide. He is North America personified, with all its con- 
tinental prejudices and confidence. Living in the very heart 
of the continent, surrounded by a rich country as yet un- 
developed, he cannot see why the American Government 






WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 83 

should seek to establish colonies in Asia by bloodshed when 
American soil calls for industrious inhabitants. He sees the 
trust system rapidly narrowing the opportunities of young 
men at home while the Government is pretending to offer 
them opportunities abroad. He believes in his own country, 
in its material strength and its moral leadership among the 
nations of the world. He has the hope of youth, of good 
health, of sound morals. He loathes unnecessary war, and, 
being by nature a civilian, he refuses to use the soldier's coat 
he wore during the Spanish-American war as a political 
advertisement. The black charger he rode at the head of his 
regiment now carries him to and from his waving fields of 
corn and oats. 

There is not a saner or more wholesome personality in the 
world than Mr. Bryan. He is evenly developed and evenly 
balanced. He loves books better than theaters, the fields 
better than cities, and he loves men better than all. He is 
equally opposed to imperialism on the one hand and socialism 
on the other hand, believing that the path of national safety 
lies midway between the two, along the old American com- 
petitive system, with its equal opportunities for all. 

Mr. Bryan's financial theories may prevent him from ever 
being president of the United States — for there are many 
who will stickle at the minor issue of free silver and swallow 
imperialism — but he will always be. a great leader while he 
lives. He is the greatest commoner America has yet seen, a 
figure of romantic sincerity in an age of commercialism. It 
has been said of him by his critics that he is merely a trained 
voice. Rather is he a will, disciplined and hindered by con- 
science. 

HONESTY. 

HERE is a distinction in the use of the four words, 
honesty, uprightness, integrity, and probity ; and yet, 
T in their popular use, they embrace the same correct- 
ness of principle and conduct. "We look for honesty 
and uprightness in citizens ; it sets every question at rest be- 
tween man and man : we look for integrity and probity in 
statesmen, or such as have to adjust the rights of many." 
Yet all of these persons are alike in moral soundness and 
virtuous living. So we select honesty from the four words as 



84 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the more common, though homely, using it in the highest 
sense as the poet has it : — 

" An honest man is the noblest work of God." 

When Lamartine introduced the honored De l'Eure to the 
tumultuous populace of Paris in 1848, he said, " Listen, 
citizens ! It is sixty years of a pure life that is to address 
you.'' Whatever more and higher De l'Eure might have been, 
he was honest. Such ought to be every son and daughter of 
Adam. Sir Benjamin Rudyard once said, " No man is bound 
to be rich or great — no, nor to be wise ; but every man is bound 
to be honest." Therefore, honesty is more important than 
money, greatness, or wisdom. A valuable possession, surely ! 

A merchant engaged in an extensive wholesale business 
pointed a customer to a young man in his store. 

" That young man," said he, " is my banker." 

Perceiving that his friend did not comprehend the drift of 
his remark, he added, " He has the entire control of my finan- 
cial matters. I have too much on my mind to be perplexed 
with them." 

"Do you not fear to commit such a trust to a youth ?" 
responded the customer. " No business man ought to run 
such a risk in these days of embezzlement and defalcation." 

The merchant replied : " I have no fears ; James came 
into my store when he was not more than twelve years of 
age, and he has proved to me that he is strictly honest. I 
would trust him as quick as I would my minister. He could 
defraud me of fifty thousand dollars if he were disposed, and 
make his escape before I could help myself. But I have no 
fears." 

That young man was rich without having money. Such a 
character was worth more to him '• than gold, yea, than much 
fine gold." It was something to get wealth with. Even Mira- 
beau said, " If there were no honesty, it would be invented as 
a means of getting wealth." We know that some business 
men deny this, and say that success cannot be achieved by 
strict honesty. We heard a Boston merchant make a labored 
argument to prove this, but his argument was an insult to 
God, who would not require undoubted honesty in business 
life if it were impossible, as it was an exposure of his own 
lack of principle. Just such men as he have brought disgrace 



HONESTY. 85 

upon mercantile life, and made possible a state of things 
which Henry Ward Beecher truthfully described as fol- 
lows : — 

"If every brick in every wall that was laid in transgres- 
sion, and every nail driven in sin, and every bale and box 
brought forth with iniquity, were to groan and sigh, how 
many articles around us would remain silent ? How many 
would shriek and cry, ' Art thou come to torment us before 
the time ? ' If every article of trade in any store that is there 
through wrong were to fly through the air to the rightful 
ownership, what a flight of bales, and boxes, and sugar casks 
should we see ! " 

No ! Such a reign of immorality is not necessary. The 
solid and useful virtue of honesty is highly practicable. 
"Nothing is profitable that is dishonest," is a truthful maxim. 
"Virtue alone is invincible."' "I would give ten thousand 
dollars for your reputation for uprightness,'' said a sharper to 
an upright tradesman, " f or I could make a hundred thousand 
dollars with it." Honesty succeeds ; dishonesty fails. The 
biographer of Amos Lawrence says, "His integrity stands 
absolutely unimpeached, without spot or blemish. He seemed 
ever to have a reverence for right, unalloyed, unfaltering, 
supreme ; a moral perception and moral sensibility, which 
kept him from deviating a hair's breadth from what he saw 
and felt to be his duty. It was this that constituted the 
strength of his character, and was one of the great secrets of 
his success." 

Dr. Peabody said of Samuel Appleton, another affluent 
merchant of Boston in the early part of the present century, 
"He was an honest man. Without subterfuge or disguise, 
incapable of anything indirect or underhanded, he had no 
concealment of his own, and anything in the form of a secret 
was to him a trouble and a burden. He knew of but one way 
of speaking, and that was to say straight on the truth." 

The biographer of Samuel Budgett speaks of his transpar- 
ent truthfulness throughout his business career, and, among 
many incidents, he relates the following : "In Mr. Budgett's 
early days, pepper was under a heavy tax ; and in the trade, 
universal tradition said that out of the trade everybody ex- 
pected pepper to be mixed. In the shop stood a cask labeled 
'P. D.,' containing something very like pepper dust, where- 



86 LEADERS OF MEN. 

with it was used to mix the pepper before sending it forth to 
serve the public. The trade tradition had obtained for the 
hypocritical P. D. a place among the standard articles of the 
shop, and on the strength of that tradition it was vended for 
pepper by men who thought they were honest. But as Samuel 
went forward in life, his ideas on trade morality grew clearer. 
This P. D. began to give him much discomfort. He thought 
upon it until he was satisfied that, when all that could be said 
was weighed, the thing was wrong. Arrived at this con- 
clusion, he felt that no blessing could be upon the place while 
it was there. He instantly decreed that P. D. should perish. 
It was night ; but back he went to the shop, took his hypocrit- 
ical cask, carried it forth to the quarry, then staved it, and 
scattered P. D. among the clods, slags, and stones. He re- 
turned with a light heart." 

Such examples, which might be indefinitely multiplied, 
disprove the unfounded plea that strict honesty cannot 
achieve success in this wicked age of the world. They illus- 
trate, also, the declarations of Holy Writ : — 

"The integrity of the upright shall guide them ; but the 
perverseness of the transgressors shall destroy them." 

" He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely ; but he that 
perverteth his ways shall be known." 

A few years ago a lady entered a store in Boston, looked 
at some goods, and walked out without making a purchase. 

"Why did not that lady purchase those goods ?" inquired 
the proprietor of his clerk. 

"Because, sir, she wanted Middlesex cloths," the clerk 
answered. 

" And why did you not show her the next pile, and call 
them Middlesex ? " continued the unprincipled trader. 

" Because, sir, I knew they were not Middlesex," was the 
emphatic answer of the honest young man. 

" Young man," said the merchant, " if you are so particu- 
lar, and can't bend a little to circumstances, you will never 
do for me." 

The clerk's response is worthy of a high place in history: — 

" Very well, sir ; if I must tell falsehoods in order to keep 
my place, I must lose it ; that is all." 

He left the store, and that God who requires as strict hon- 
esty in the warehouse as in the church, led him forth to 



HONESTY. 87 

prosperity. He became a leading merchant in a western city, 
while his dishonest employer became a bankrupt, and died 
in poverty. 

Society never needed uncompromising honesty more than 
it does to-day. Young people never needed it more in going out 
into the great world than the young people of our day, for they 
will meet temptations to dishonesty everywhere. Designing 
and intriguing men who "have an eye to the main chance," 
and who claim that "every man is for himself," will press 
their way clear to the front. Mean, brazen, unscrupulous, 
licentious, desperate, despicable men and women will be met 
on life's great thoroughfares, but if thoroughly mailed with 
unyielding honesty, having a conscience void of offense, these 
tempters will be powerless, for the highest authority declares, 
" Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own 
lust, and enticed." If they are right inside, the temptations 
outside will be as though they were not. 

The honest man may be unfortunate. In the ups and 
downs of business he may become embarrassed, and even 
ruined financially, but he cannot be ruined morally. His 
unbending integrity is a guarantee against that ; and, at the 
same time, it gathers a host of sympathizing friends around 
him in the hour of his adversity. A conflagration may sweep 
away his last dollar, or a sudden financial crash may leave 
him penniless, but all is not lost ; the best survives the wreck. 
Honesty will never perish ; and noble hearts bring their lov- 
ing tributes of respect in the dark hour of misfortune. Hon- 
esty triumphs. 

Abraham Lincoln was called " Honest Abe." This sobri- 
quet was given to him at New Salem, Illinois, whither he went 
to take charge of the " country store" of one Orfutt, in 1831. 
He was about twenty-two years of age, awkward, bashful, 
but strictly upright. He took no advantage of the ignorance 
or necessities of customers, but represented goods just as 
they were, gave Scripture measure and weight, and always 
hastened to correct mistakes. 

One day he sold a bill of goods, amounting to two dollars 
and six cents, to Mrs. Duncan, living more than two miles 
away. On looking over the account again in the evening, 
before closing the store, he found that Mrs. Duncan paid him 
six cents too much. " That must be corrected to-night," he 



88 LEADERS OF MEN. 

said to himself ; so, as soon as he had closed the shutters for 
the night, he posted away with the six cents surplus to her 
house. She was preparing to retire when he knocked at the 
door, and was very much surprised, on opening it, to see 
Orfutt's clerk standing there. Apologizing for the mistake, 
Lincoln deposited the six cents in her hand, and slept all the 
better that night for having corrected the error. 

At another time, a woman came to the store late in the 
evening, when Lincoln was closing it, for a half pound of tea, 
which was weighed in haste. Immediately after she left, 
Lincoln locked the store and went home. On returning the 
next morning, his attention was called to the scales, which 
had a four-ounce weight instead of eight in them. He knew 
at once that he must have given the woman a quarter instead 
of a half pound of tea. Weighing another quarter of a 
pound, he closed the store and delivered it to the customer, 
asking her pardon, before commencing the labors of the day. 

Such examples of honesty were not overlooked by the 
public. Men and women talked about them, and extolled the 
author of them. They led, also, to something more. In that 
part of the country, at that time, various games prevailed in 
which two sides enlisted ; and it was the custom to appoint 
an umpire for each game. Lincoln became the universal 
umpire, both sides insisting upon his appointment on account 
of his fairness. His honesty won the confidence of all. 

One Henry McHenry planned a horse race, and applied to 
Lincoln to act as judge. 

" No ; I 've done with that," answered Lincoln. 

" But you must,'' urged McHenry. 

" I must not and I will not," responded Lincoln, with 
much emphasis ; " this horse-racing business is all wrong." 

"Just this once; never will ask you again," continued 
McHenry. 

"Well, remember, 'just this once' it is," was Lincoln's 
conclusion, thinking it might be the best way to make a cor- 
rupting practice of " wild western life " unpopular. He acted 
as judge, and the party against whom his judgment weighed 
said, " Lincoln is the fairest man I ever had to deal with. If 
he is in this country when I die, I want him to be my adminis- 
trator, for he is the only man I ever met with that was wholly 
and unselfishlv honest." 



HONESTY. 89 

Dr. Holland says: "When Lincoln terminated his labors 
for Orfutt, every one trusted him. He was judge, arbitrator, 
referee, umpire, authority in all disputes, games, matches of 
man-flesh and horse-flesh ; a pacificator in all quarrels ; 
everybody's friend ; the best natured, the most sensible, the 
best informed, the most modest and unassuming, the kindest, 
gentlest, roughest, strongest, best young fellow in all New 
Salem and the region round about." 

This is a just encomium ; but it never could have been said 
of him but for his unbending honesty, a quality for which 
he was known from his boyhood. The honest boy makes the 
honest man. 

When Lincoln became a lawyer, he carried to the bar this 
habitual honesty. His associates were often surprised by his 
utter disregard of self-interest, while they could but admire 
his conscientious defense of what he considered right. One 
day a stranger called to secure his services. 

"State your case," said Lincoln. A history of the case 
was given, when Lincoln astonished him by saying : — 

" I cannot serve you ; for you are wrong, and the other 
party is right." 

" That is none of your business, if I hire and pay you for 
taking the case," retorted the man. 

" Not my business ! " exclaimed Lincoln. " My business is 
never to defend wrong, if I am a lawyer. I never undertake 
a case that is manifestly wrong." 

" Well, you can make trouble for the fellow," added the 
applicant. 

"Yes," replied Lincoln, fully aroused ; " there is no doubt 
but that I can gain the case for you, and set a whole neigh- 
borhood at loggerheads. I can distress a widowed mother 
and her six fatherless children, and thereby get for you six 
hundred dollars, which rightly belongs as much to the woman 
and her children as it does to you ; but I won't do it." 

" Not for any amount of pay ?" continued the stranger. 

" Not for all you are worth," replied Lincoln. " You must 
remember that some things which are legally right are not 
morally right. I shall not take your case." 

" I don't care a snap whether you door not!" exclaimed 
the man, angrily, starting to go. 

" I will give you a piece of advice without charge," added 



90 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Lincoln. ' ' You seem to be a sprightly, energetic man. I would 
advise you to make six hundred dollars some other way." 

Judge Treat gives the following: "A case being called 
for hearing in the court, Mr. Lincoln stated that he ap- 
peared for the appellant, and said, ' This is the first case I 
have ever had in this court, and I have, therefore, examined 
it with great care. As the court will perceive, by looking at 
the abstract of the record, the only question in the case is one 
of authority. I have not been able to find any authority to 
sustain my side of the case, but I have found several cases to 
sustain the other side. I will now give these cases, and then 
submit the case.' " 

Some lawyers present thought he was crazy, not being 
accustomed to look for "exact justice."' 

He undertook the celebrated Patterson trial, a case of mur- 
der, supposing the accused was innocent. Before the evidence 
was all in, he became satisfied that the man was guilty, and 
withdrew from the case, leaving his partner to conduct it. 
The accused was acquitted, but Lincoln would not take a cent 
of the one thousand dollars paid to his partner for services. 

Lincoln's professional life abounded with similar incidents, 
leading Judge David Davis to say, "The framework of his 
mental and moral being was honesty. He never took from a 
client, even when the cause was gained, more than he thought 
the service was worth and the client could afford to pay." 

The time came, in 1860, when Lincoln's honesty was needed 
to save the nation. Slavery threatened to overthrow the 
Republic unless it was allowed to become universal. North 
and South there was distrust, alienation, and apprehension. 
The retiring president had governed for the South, in the 
interest of bondage. Loyal citizens had lost confidence in 
public men. The next president must be one whose character 
would challenge the respect and confidence of loyal people, or 
the ship of state would go under in the fearful storm gather- 
ing. Abraham Lincoln was the man. He could be trusted. 
Friends of the Union gave him their implicit confidence, and 
became a unit. His honesty had reached its highest value 
and saved the Republic by destroying slavery. 



CHAPTER IV. 

JOHN DAVIS LONG. 

ON THE PROBLEM OF LIFE HIS ANCESTRY LIFE IN OXFORD COUNTY, 

MAINE AT HEBRON ACADEMY COLLEGE CAREER AS A LAW STUDENT 

THE LAWYER POLITICAL BEGINNINGS GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS 

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. CHOICE OF 

COMPANIONS. 

The problem of life is never solved, and yet the method of 
its solution is as plain as daylight, and that method is progress, 
progress, progress,— progress in physical and 
material circumstance, in intellectual en- 
largement and force, in moral sentiment, in 
aesthetic refinement, in personal character. 

No man is altogether the master of his 
own character or inclination, but I should 
say the personal elements of success are 
natural capacity and industry. With these 
must go, however, thoroughness in intel- 
lectual culture and moral impress on char- 
acter. 

My maturer experience has shown me that nothing is so 
important to a young man in the formation of character as 
the influence, inspiration, elevation of a riper or superior 
mind, sensibly or insensibly holding him to higher standards, 
not in the goody-goody sense, but in the appreciation of his 
own powers, capacities and obligations. 





'HERE is a type of character which we have come to look 
upon as distinctively American. It is compounded of 
keen intelligence, celerity in action, readiness of re- 
source, large toleration, easy good humor, confident 
optimism, and entire independence. A shrewd wit flavors it, 
a ready speech belongs to it, a fine and tender sentiment lies 



92 LEADERS OF MEN. 

at its heart. It scorns conventionalities, though it easily 
takes on the polish of the great world. Through all its knowl- 
edge of men and things we detect that racy smack of the 
soil, that solidity of principle, that intense conviction of a 
great future for our country, which mark the true home-bred 
American. 

To this type belongs the subject of this sketch, and we are 
to learn to what influences it owes its existence ; from what 
strong sources its springs are fed. 

Back of a man, as the foundation of his personality, lie his 
ancestors. We do not gather figs of thistles. Education and 
environment do much, no doubt, to mold the outward show, 
but, given ordinary conditions of wholesome country living in 
childhood, an individual is apt to develop on pre-determined 
lines, and it is characteristic of the strong American to 
promptly select his own surroundings as soon as he is out of 
leading strings, to bring his own force to play on circum- 
stance, and to elect his own form of education, assimilating 
what is congenial, rejecting the superfluous, moved by a keen 
natural instinct of what he needs. 

The more one studies our men of mark, the more one be- 
comes convinced that they are the lords, not the slaves of 
circumstance, and that if they stand out from the multitude 
of their fellows who had a similar start in life, it is owing to 
that happy combination of qualities which makes them mas- 
ters of the event. What America gives them is the chance — 
that they avail themselves of it is their proof of ability. 

First of all, then, we must examine the stock to understand 
the shoot. 

John Davis Long came of a line of Massachusetts ancestry 
which extends back to the "Mayflower*' and the "Ann." 
For whatever reason the Pilgrim Fathers came to this 
country, the fact of their coming at all shows them to 
have been daring, resolute, enterprising men, afraid of no 
risks so long as they were assured of a chance to carry out 
their own ideas without government interference. Bold were 
they and willful, full of stern convictions, unflinching amid 
perils unknown, scornful of luxury, familiar with hardship, 
in which they had the Anglo-Saxon's joy. Labor was 
their pleasure, religion their meat and drink. Hard and 
narrow as no doubt many of them were, they were clear- 



JOHN DAVIS LONG. 93 

sighted, conscientious, and tenacious, inspired by that prac- 
tical imagination which is the endowment of the English 
race, an imagination which has led to the planting of a thou- 
sand colonies, and the development of them along lines once 
purely ideal ; an imagination which could picture the desert 
blossoming as the rose, and see the future city in the hamlet. 
Aided by it the great race has spread over the face of the 
globe, building up mighty states, enforcing its theories of life 
and free government along its conquering path. Such a race 
stamps its characteristics upon its children to remotest gen- 
erations. 

On his father's side, Mr. Long hails from Plymouth. His 
grandfather was a descendant of the pilgrim Thomas Clark, 
who came over in the "Ann " in 1623, and his grandmother 
Bathsheba Churchill's forbear, Richard Warren, was one of 
the passengers in the "Mayflower." His mother's progeni- 
tor, Dolar Davis, came with the emigration of 1634 and settled 
first in Cambridge and died in Barnstable. His wife was 
Margery Willard, the sister of Major Simon Willard of Con- 
cord, Mass. 

Thus we see by what right their descendant holds many of 
the qualities which stand for success : steadfastness, endur- 
ance, capacity, and a genius for hard work — the key perhaps, 
to many a triumph. 

From the strong stock which first occupied Massachusetts 
went forth into the Province of Maine a class of especially 
vigorous settlers, whose descendants still return from time 
to time to the parent state, to administer its affairs and lead 
in its councils, with the freshness and force characteristic 
of the sturdy men of the Pine Tree state. Among these 
pioneers went in 1806, sailing by packet from Plymouth to 
Salem and thence overland in a pioneer's wagon, Thomas 
Long, the grandfather of John D. Long. 

Zadoc Long, the latter's father, was then six years old, and 
often told him of the mile-long hill at their journey's end 
which they had to climb to reach the half-finished house and 
half-cleared farm which was to be their future home in Buck- 
field, Maine. The other men who settled Oxford county 
were a sturdy set, whose descendants are well-known to fame. 
They were poor, as everybody was poor in those parts, but 
shrewd, intelligent, thinking men, who read books and talked 



94 LEADERS OF MEN. 

politics, kept alert minds, and gave their children the best 
education going. 

Among these sturdy people, in a hill country, which always 
develops individuality, and in an atmosphere of home cultiva- 
tion (for Zadoc Long was a reading man and a writer of 
verse), little John grew up. In one of his speeches he feel- 
ingly alludes to the impression, never to be effaced, of snowy 
peaks, cool woods, and picturesque roads over hills and 
through valleys, upon his childish mind. Alluding to Oxford 
county he says : — 

" Enlarging and educating as were its physical influences, I pay my tribute 

still more gratefully to the living influence of its people the solid 

democracy of a country such as Oxford county typifies — absolutely meeting 
the ideal of a free and equal people, and ignorant of such a thing as caste or 
class. Add to such a democracy the elements of the education of the com- 
mon schools, the unfettered exercise of religious freedom, the popular political 
discussion of the street corner, the store, and the hay-field, the frequent 
vacancies of leisure, the common knowledge of men and things, the splendid 
ingrained inheritance of English common law ripened into the maxims, 
habits, converse and system of the people, the absence on the one hand of 
great accumulations of wealth, and on the other of any consciousness of the 
deprivations of extreme poverty, and especially that unconscious unreserve 
and inartificiality of intercourse which made the hewer of stone the free and 
easy, if not superior disputant as well as companion of the owner of the field, 
— add all these, and you have an atmosphere of education out of which no 
boy could emerge, and not have a fitting future life such as the metropolis 
with its schools, the university with its colleges, could not give, a homely 
familiarity with the popular mind, an inbred sympathy with the masses, not 
artificial nor assumed, but a part of the character itself, and a helpful 
agency in public service, and in useful conduct in life. Its fruits you see 
to-day, and for years have seen, in the elements which from rural counties 
like Oxford have gone into the busy avenues of our national life, and given 
enterprise, growth, success to the business, the government, the literature, 
and the progress of the country." 

This paragraph is quoted at length as the keynote of that 
popularity, arising from his true humanity, which has made 
the career of the able ex-Secretary of the Navy a long prog- 
ress from one honor to another. A life so wise, serene, and 
successful affords little light and shadow for writing'a dramatic 
story full of sharp and interesting contrasts ; but it is worth 
studying as a product of the truest Americanism, and we can 



JOHN DAVIS LONG. 95 

see, though Buckfield was too small to long hold a man of his 
caliber, how his roots are there, how his heart ever fondly 
returns thither, while to it his happiest hours of leisure are 
still devoted on the old home farm. 

One of Mr. Long's classmates at Hebron Academy, where 
he prepared for college, alluding to his early proficiency in 
composition and declamation, says : — 

" We looked upon Johnny Long as if he were Daniel 
Webster himself." This must have been when he was quite 
a boy, for he entered Harvard at fourteen. 

The youth was really too young to reap the advantages of 
college life, but he was a good student, with a fine memory 
and unusual abilities, so that though almost the youngest 
member in his class, being only eighteen when he was grad- 
uated in 1857, he stood second in it in the senior year and was 
assigned a commencement part. 

He narrates his experiences in a way which must find an 
echo in the heart of many a solitary country boy struggling 
far from home for an education. 

" I got no lift from college at all. Nobody noticed me. I 
had the knack of getting lessons easily. I was under age and 
out of sight." Again, in a speech, he tells how he walked 
from Boston to Cambridge, to take his entrance examina- 
tions, so that every inch of Main street is "blistered into his 
memory" and later "sat crying for sheer homesickness on 
the western steps of Gore Hall," a record which may be a 
consolation to some of the university's future LL.D.'s, now 
heart-sick from neglect and solitude in that cosmos. 

He did not live in the college except in his senior year, and 
so did not get the benefit of its social life, but trudged back 
and forth two miles a day to his lodgings, working hard no 
doubt, and learning at least the valuable lessons of self-reli- 
ance and fortitude. 

After leaving college he taught for two years at Westford 
Academy, which he alludes to as " an outburst into a larger 
life," and then settled down to the study of the law in the 
office of Mr. Sydney Bartlett, one of the famous lawyers of 
Boston. This contact he considered wasted, for his chief 
never spoke to him but once on any legal subject. " From 
him," he says, " I got nothing. I was in his office nearly a 
year, reading a book, and now and then copying a paper, but 



96 LEADERS OF MEN. 

never talked with him five minutes. He took no interest in 
me and was otherwise occupied." 

Afterwards the youth attended the Harvard Law School 
for a while, taught for a few months in the Boston Latin 
School, and was finally admitted to the Suffolk bar, and began 
the practice of the law in 1862 in Buckfleld, Maine. 

Fond as Mr. Long has ever been of the simple neighbor- 
hood in which his boyhood was spent, it was "a pent-up 
Utica" for mental powers like his, and very soon we find him 
drifting back to Boston, into the office of Mr. Stillman B. 
Allen, with whom he formed a partnership in 1867, in which 
they were afterwards joined by Mr. Alfred Hemenway, who 
had been a neighbor and warm friend of Mr. Long from the 
beginning of the latter's life in Boston. 

These years were not conscious periods of development 
for the young lawyer, but were undoubtedly spent in gaining 
knowledge of men and life and books, of which he was an 
eager and industrious reader, which was to be of service to 
him in his after career. 

Later, he looked upon them as drifting, purposeless years, 
when he was without ambition, or any particular object ex- 
cept that of getting some kind of foothold so as to earn a 
living. 

He worked at his profession when he got a chance, and in 
his leisure moments he wrote poetry by the cart load, and he 
even composed a play for Maggie Mitchell, then a popular 
actress, which was given several times at the Boston Theater. 
When he was afterwards speaker he made a translation of 
Virgil's ^Eneid in blank verse. 

By an accident he drifted to Hingham, one of the earliest 
settlements on the south shore of Massachusetts bay, where 
a pleasant boarding place was offered for the summer. The 
quaint, picturesque old town suited hi-m, and he chose it as 
his home. Born among mountains he had always dreamed 
of living by the blue waters, and as he walked to and from 
the steamboat landing, he often crossed the lot on which his 
dwelling now stands, and thought of it as one he would like 
to own, and occupy with his parents. 

His mother died before that dream came true, but when in 
1870 he married Miss Mary Woodward Glover, daughter of 
George S. and Helen M. (Paul) Glover, he built his house 



JOHN DAVIS LONG. 97 

upon it, and there his two daughters, Margaret and Helen, 
passed their childhood. In 1882, Mrs. Long died in Boston. 

To his life in a country town Mr. Long owes his political 
preferment. Undoubtedly his ability would have won him a 
position as a lawyer in Boston, had he settled there ; but as a 
recognized force in a small community he came very soon to 
the top. 

His father was always an old-fashioned Whig, but the 
great tide of 1860 swept the son into the Republican party, 
and he cast his vote in that momentous election, for Israel 
Washburn, its candidate for governor of Maine, and spoke 
for Lincoln on the stump. Before the November election he 
went to Boston, and there, having no vote, he lost the oppor- 
tunity which he desired to vote for Abraham Lincoln for 
President. After that he seems to have had for a time 
no special interest in politics, and when his abilities first 
brought him to the attention of the Hingham people as a pos- 
sible candidate for the Legislature, in 1871, he was nominated 
to run as a Democrat, but in his reply to the electors he ex- 
pressed his desire to be regarded as 

" An independent candidate, free to do my duty in the improbable event 
of my election, according to the best of my own judgment and intelligence, 
unpledged and unbiased, and considered as the representative, not of party 
issues, but of the general interests of this district and of the Common- 
wealth." 

This was not enough for Hingham, however, and he was 
defeated. In 1872 he shared the dissatisfaction of Sumner 
and other Republicans with Grant, and voted for Horace 
Greeley. In the fall of 1874 he was nominated and elected 
by the Republicans and represented them in the General 
Court for four years. In the Legislature his readiness in de- 
bate, his geniality, and his fairness of mind were promptly 
recognized. The Speaker often called him to the chair, and 
in 1876 he was elected to occupy it, and remained for three 
years Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representa- 
tives. 

In 1879 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of 'the state, 
and upon the retirement of Governor Talbot, the following 
year, he was given the first place on the ticket. He was Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts in 1880, 1881, and 1882, and distin- 



98 LEADERS OF MEN. 

guished himself as an administrator, and by the excellence 
of his appointments. His official public speeches were admi- 
rable for appropriateness and eloquence. 

Many vacancies in the courts occurred during his terms of 
office, and so rapid were the changes on the supreme bench, 
that at one time every judge there held his commission from 
him, including such distinguished men as Chief Justice 
Morton, Judges Devens, William and Charles Allen, Field, 
Holmes, Colburn, etc. Five of the eleven judges of the su- 
perior court also held their commissions from him. 

His choice of men for important positions has always been 
marked by the clear insight and sound judgment for which he 
is distinguished. Those who know him best say that his in- 
tuitive perception of character is never at fault. His deci- 
sions are swift and sure, and always justified by results. 

He made a steady and efficient chief magistrate, and one 
most popular with the people. His clear, prompt habits of 
mind, his perfect coolness, and his absolute faithfulness in 
the performance of every function, made executive duty easy 
for him, and as an administrator he has always excelled. His 
dignified and cordial manners, his memory of names and 
faces, combined with the happy humor and eloquence which 
made his official speeches models of their kind, endeared him 
to every one, and then, as now, he was always warmly and 
eagerly welcomed as a brilliant figure in any gathering. 

At the close of his third term, Mr. Long was elected to 
the Forty-Eighth and afterwards to the Forty-Ninth and 
Fiftieth Congresses of the United States, distinguishing him- 
self in these by attention to legislative business and by cer- 
tain noticeable speeches : On the Whisky Tax (March 25, 1884), 
on Interstate Commerce (December 3, 1884); on Silver Coinage 
(March 27, 1886), and on the French Spoliation Claim (August 
4, 1888), all of which were logical, well-reasoned discourses of 
weight and interest. 

Legislative duty proved, however, not altogether to his 
taste. He chafed at being everybody's errand boy, and the 
/ issues of that time did not call especially for his gifts of ora- 
tory, while his administrative ability was largely thrown 
away. 

The necessity of looking after his private interests induced 
him to decline a re-nomination and he returned to his law 



JOHN DAVIS LONG. 99 

practice in Boston at the close of his third term in Congress. 
In 188G he had made a second marriage with Miss Agnes 
Pierce, daughter of Rev. Joseph D. Pierce of North Attle- 
boro, Mass., and his son Pierce was born in that town Decem- 
ber 29, 1887. 

As a jury lawyer Mr. Long was called one of the foremost 
in the state. His knowledge of the law, founded on long, in- 
telligent study, became instinctive rather than the result of 
memory. He knew what the law ought to be, and announced 
it fearlessly, while the junior counsel looked up the authori- 
ties. His simple, direct statements, his genial humor, carried 
juries with him and insured a favorable verdict. 

In the law he was held in high esteem on account of his 
aptitude for business, his quick insight, and rapid methods, 
and also for an unusual ability to adjust cases by the fairness 
of mind which enabled him to see both sides, and bring op- 
ponents to an understanding. For some years he was a mem- 
ber of the State House Construction Committee, and was 
influential in obtaining the open space about the building so 
essential to its effect. 

It was while he was taking a much needed rest in 1890 from 
the arduous duties of his profession, that President-Elect 
McKinley made him the unlooked-for offer of a seat in his 
cabinet, with a choice between several offices. The sugges- 
tion was such a surprise to Mr. Long that there was some 
delay in his acceptance, but he finally selected the Navy, 
thinking that under its able chiefs of department its perfec- 
tion of routine was such as to make the position of Secretary 
of the Navy comparatively easy in a time of profound peace 
such as was then enjoyed. 

His nomination was sent to the Senate by the President 
and on March 5, 1897, it was promptly confirmed, but to his 
surprise, after a short time, the post of Secretary of the Navy 
became one of unexpected importance. After a year of 
enjoyment of the otium cum dignitate of the position, during 
which he had an opportunity to become familiar with the 
duties of his office, and a chance to learn to know the qualities 
of his subordinates, the outbreak of the war with Spain made 
the office of the Secretary of the Navy, contrary to all expec- 
tations, one of the most responsible positions in the United 

States. , „ „ 
Lof C. 



100 LEADERS OF MEN. 

To this surprising emergency Mr. Long brought the calm 
good judgment and ready perception which have never failed 
him in his administrative career. Recognizing the need of 
technical counsel, he promptly called about him the most 
experienced naval men and organized them into a board of 
strategy. The purpose of this board was to divine and fore- 
stall the possible plans of the enemy, and to devise a plan of 
campaign to which the best skill in the profession should 
contribute advice and knowledge. 

The results of this well considered scheme promptly testi- 
fied to its value. The success of Dewey in Manila Bay speedily 
brought about a respectful consideration from those nations 
of the old world which in the beginning were most hostile in 
their attitude towards the United States. 

The forethought of the Secretary of the Navy had insured 
proper preparation for the event long before war was declared. 

" Let me know," he said, "just how much money you need 
to put the ships in sailing order and you shall have it." The 
first Congressional appropriation of twenty millions gave him 
the means of carrying out the promise, and when the 19th of 
April, 1898, came, the navy was ready, and its victory was the 
first thing to turn the scale among foreign governments, and 
to win for the United States the enthusiastic moral support of 
England, most important to it at that crisis. During the year 
of the war, the business of his department involved amounts 
aggregating $140,000,000, every cent of which was properly 
accounted for. 

The story of the astounding success of our fleets in the 
Philippines and Cuba, without the loss of a vessel, is a tribute 
not only to the valor and ability of officers and men, but also 
to the foresight and wise supervision of the Secretary, owing 
to which the great increase in the laboring force at the navy 
yards, in the beginning of the war, was accomplished without 
undue rush, and under such regulations as resulted in obtain- 
ing only skilled men. Also the right commanders were sent 
to the right places. 

Though the Secretary modestly awarded the merit to the 
able department chiefs, no one can deny that mal-adminis- 
tration at the head might have brought about fatal delays or 
lack of proper equipment at the right time ; and the country 
did not fail to recognize that in the Secretary of the Navy, the 



JOHN DAVIS LONG. 101 

right man was in the right place, and gave him its entire 
confidence. 

A little untimely neglect, a few appointments for some 
reason besides proved ability, a lack at headquarters of an in- 
telligent plan, and no master hand at the helm, might have 
brought about disaster, a lagging campaign, disaffection at 
home, and the mockery of those outside spectators whose 
sympathy it was important to win. 

One of his considerations for the comfort and welfare of 
the sailors at the front was the provision of refrigerating 
supply ships, which are practically innovations in naval war- 
fare, and never before were hospital ships so admirably 
equipped for service. 

After the war with Spain was over, Secretary Long gave 
his direct attention to increasing the material and personal 
efficiency of the naval service, and also to the reduction of 
the expenditures of his great department to the lowest limit 
consistent with efficiency. During his incumbency the entire 
personnel of the navy was reorganized upon a new basis : the 
naval militia organizations of our various states were fos- 
tered and encouraged, the upbuilding of the navy was carried 
on with a proper regard for our future necessities, and the 
beginning of the 20th century found him urging upon Con- 
gress a naval reserve force to act as an extension of the 
navy in time of war, and thus enable the regular establish- 
ment to be kept at the lowest limit consistent with due regard 
for the care of our vessels during peace times. He resigned 
early in 1902. 

A subordinate said of him during his term of office : " Sec- 
retary Long's devotion to the business of the department is 
complete. Reaching his office before nine (the opening hour) 
every morning, he makes it a point to answer every commu- 
nication addressed to him. When this is accomplished he 
gives the rest of the morning to the examination of and decis- 
ion in matters of business of the various bureaus, and to 
receiving official and private visitors. Nor does he leave the 
department until all the letters are signed, and every item of 
the day's business has been completed." 

A gentleman, who was his guest for a few days during the 
war, was struck with an interview at which he was present, 
between the Secretary and two Senators who came to advo- 



102 LEADERS OF MEN. 

cate some plausible scheme. Mr. Long listened to them with 
his usual cordial deference, but, when the plan had been laid 
before him, politely asked a question or two, which showed 
that he had laid his finger at once upon the weak point in the 
proposition, and afterwards could not be moved by any spe- 
cious argument or personal influence to give his consent to it. 

This honesty and keen perception of shams have been in- 
valuable to Mr. Long in his executive positions and he has 
that practical sense and celerity in dispatching business 
characteristic of the able administrator, which always makes 
itself felt. Exciting the least possible friction by a courteous 
and conciliating bearing, he obtains what he wants without 
bluster or fuss. Behind his suavity of manner lie a resolute 
will, and a passionate, high spirit in excellent Control, and his 
playful ease never detracts from a simple and manly dignity 
upon which no one dares to presume, while his acuteness pre- 
vents deception. 

Perfectly reasonable in listening to argument, deliberate 
in coming to an. important decision, Mr. Long is entirely tena- 
cious of a position once taken as the result of his mature 
judgment, and this clearness and moderation, combined with 
resolution, give his opinions great weight in cabinet councils. 
Sharing the anxiety with regard to the ambassadors in Pekin 
at the time of the massacres in the summer of 1900, the 
Secretary of the Navy alone firmly maintained the logical 
opinion that the foreign ministers must be alive, since we 
knew for certain of the one death which had occurred. This 
shrewd judgment, though ridiculed at home and abroad, 
proved to be correct, and is another instance of that sagacity 
which has often stood the administration in good stead. 

Add to these qualities a great power of turning off work 
with coolness, insight, and dispatch, apparent freedom from 
doubt or anxiety, a large serenity of temper, the capacity to 
change promptly from one duty to another, combined with a 
fresh, gay humor which enlivens and makes palatable serious 
counsel, — and we have an ideal administrator, whose steadi- 
ness and cheerfulness in emergencies were a great support to 
the Executive as well as to public confidence. 

Such, briefly, is the sketch up to the beginning of the 20th 
century of the life of a typical American, who has performed 
his duty simply and effectively to his town, his state and his 






JOHN DAVIS LONG. 103 

country. The story shows no dramatic events, no melancholy 
depths, no dazzling glory, but a career manly, efficient, dis- 
tinguished, honorable alike to the individual and to the civili- 
zation of which he is a characteristic product. 

In estimating the causes of his success we must not fail to 
take into account, after his sincerity, and the kindliness of his 
nature, his exceptional mental ability and his remarkable 
gift of oratory, especially that which is best characterized as 
"occasional," the aptitude for speaking at a given moment 
words beautiful and appropriate which move every listener 
and touch the heart. 

In his speeches Mr. Long has the literary gift of grace and 
poetic feeling, but still better he has the power to comprehend 
and express the popular sentiment, not with effort, but from 
true understanding. He is by turns playful, tender, impas- 
sioned ; he can strike the keynote of the moment, always. Of 
dignified and appropriate eloquence, he is a master. His pub- 
lished speeches give a clew to his character, and in them the 
true, hearty, kindly simplicity of the man are clearly appar- 
ent, lighted up by that cheerful optimism, that boundless con- 
fidence in the future of the race, which distinguish him. 

One of his warmest friends, speaking of him, says : "He 
has no personal enthusiasms, and no vanity. He never thinks 
highly of anything he does himself, but only feels that anyone 
in his place would have done as well." And this feeling he 
brings to bear on historical characters whose greatness he 
feels to be the greatness of the hour, of the opportunity, 
rather than of remarkable heroism or ability. 

Whether one agrees with this or not, that he believes it, is a 
part of the unpretending nature of a man who thinks that do- 
ing one's duty is easy and natural to every one, and that its 
simple performance in high moments must lead to high re- 
sults. Great men he considers myths, and when we search for 
his own best title to distinction, we find it in that large com- 
mon sense, — the common sense of Washington, of Lincoln, of 
Queen Victoria, which acts sincerely and acts wisely, because 
it feels with the people, and knows instinctively the larger 
human needs. 

In summing up his character, Mr. Long's great friendliness 
and sympathy must not be forgotten, a generous helpfulness 
that all his townspeople recognize so fully, that every one of 



104 LEADERS OF MEN. 

them turns instinctively to him in an emergency for aid and 
advice, sure of comprehension and service given without 
stint. That flower of courtesy which recognizes every indi- 
vidual as having equal rights distinguishes him from lesser 
men, and wins him a place in the popular heart, such as can 
only be gained by something genuine, cordial, and unpretend- 
ing in the individual himself. 

In looking back over his career we find nothing adventi- 
tious in his success in life,— no struggle for effect, no am- 
bitious grasping for power, no powerful backing, no great 
financial support. We have only the straightforward prog- 
ress of a country lad of fine abilities and sound judgment, 
endowed with the gift of silver speech, who, by the sheer 
force of his intellect, and his honorable fulfillment of every 
duty which fell to him, rose in time to distinction in his town, 
and in the capital of the state, to the highest place in the gift 
of the commonwealth, and to one of the most responsible 
positions in the nation. We see him filling these offices with 
efficiency and dignity, with no shadow on his fair fame, 
respected by his fellow-men of all stations ; and we are anew 
proud of a country where such a character is sure of recog- 
nition, and in which we can truly claim he is no uncommon 
type of the public men who are the result of the splendid 
opportunities for development afforded by the United States 
of America. 

CHOICE OF COMPANIONS. 

a GOOD companion or adviser is better than a fortune, 
for a fortune cannot purchase those elements of char- 
acter which make companionship a blessing. The 
best companion is one who is wiser and better than ourselves, 
for we are inspired by his wisdom and virtue to nobler deeds. 
Greater wisdom and goodness than we possess lift us higher 
mentally and morally. Says Feltham : " He that means to be 
a good limner will be sure to draw after the most excellent 
copies, and guide every stroke of his pencil by the better 
pattern that lies before him ; so he who desires that the table 
of his life may be fair will be careful to propose the best 
examples, and will never be content till he equal or excels 
them." 

" Keep good company, and you shall be of the number," 




SECRETARY LONG IN THE NAVY OFFICE. 



CHOICE OF COMPANIONS. 107 

said George Herbert, and nothing can be more certain. "A 
man is known by the company he keeps." It is always true. 
Companionship of a high order is powerful to develop charac- 
ter. Character makes character in the associations of life 
faster than anything else. Purity begets purity ; like begets 
like ; and this fact makes the choice of companions in 
early life more important, even, than that of teachers 
and guardians. When Sir Joshua Reynolds was a boy, he 
had so great a reverence for the character of Pope, that 
he would press through a crowd to touch his coat with the 
end of his forefinger, as if he expected to be lifted higher by 
the act, and finally become more of a man. Somewhat of 
that feeling should rule in the choice of companions, selecting 
those whose nobleness challenges the touch of admiration. 

It is true that we cannot always choose all of our com- 
panions. Some are thrust upon us by business and the social 
relations of life. We do not choose them, we do not enjoy 
them ; and yet, we have to associate with them more or less. 
The experience is not altogether without compensation, 
if there be principle enough in us to bear the strain. 
Still, in the main, choice of companions can be made, and 
must be made. It is not best nor necessary for a young 
person to associate with "Tom, Dick, and Harry," without 
forethought or purpose. Some fixed rules about the company 
he or she keeps should be observed. The subject should be 
uppermost in the thoughts, and canvassed often. 

Companionship is education, good or bad ; it develops 
manhood or womanhood, high or low ; it lifts the soul upward 
or drags it downward ; it ministers to virtue or vice. There 
is no halfway work about its influence. If it ennobles, it 
does it grandly ; if it demoralizes, it does it devilishly. It 
saves or destroys lustily. One school companion saved Henry 
Martyn, and made a missionary of him ; one school com- 
panion ruined John Newton, and made a most profligate and 
profane companion of him. Newton was sent away to a 
boarding school. He was an obedient and virtuous lad, and 
his parents had no anxiety for his moral safety. But there 
was a bright, immoral youth in the school, who cared more 
for coarse fun than he did for books, and was profane, vulgar, 
and artful. He sought the companionship of young Newton, 
and the latter was captivated by his brilliancy and social 



108 LEADERS OF MEN. 

qualities. He did not appear to be a bad young man. The 
two became intimate, their friendship strengthening from 
week to week. John Newton soon became as wicked as his 
companion, and finally ran away, from home and went to sea 
—the worst school he could enter. On board the ship he 
found kindred spirits, and he waxed worse and worse. At 
last he was "the worst sailor on board the vessel," and many 
were the boon companions that he ruined. His end would 
have been fearful, had not a kind Providence interposed, 
after years of debauchery, and made him a Christian man. 

The late Rev. Dr. Thomson, of New York city, published 
the story of a youth who came under his ministry at nineteen 
years of age. He was the son of pious parents, neither 
profane, idle, nor vicious, and had established a character for 
industry and sobriety. At twenty he united with Dr. Thom- 
son's church, and at twenty-one was employed by a rail- 
road company, where wicked companions beset him. He 
soon fell into evil ways, and, in less than one year, became too 
abandoned and reckless to be harbored by the church. The end 
came within three years and Dr. Thomson shall describe it: — 

" Two weeks ago to-day I knelt in that murderer's cell, in 
company with his parents, sister, and brother, who had come 
for their last interview with him on earth. That narrow cell 
was more solemn than the grave itself. Two weeks ago 
to-morrow I saw the youth, who had once been of my spirit- 
ual flock, upon the scaffold. It was an awful scene. He 
made a brief address. Oh, that you could have heard the 
warning of that young man from the scaffold: 'You know,' 
he said, ' how I was brought up. I had the best instructions a 
Christian father could give. Oh, if I had followed them, I 
should have been in my dear father's home ; but evil compan- 
ions led me astray, and I have come to this ! I hope, now, as 
I leave the world, my voice will warn all young men. Our 
desires and passions are so strong that it requires very little to 
lead us astray. I want to urge it upon all young men, never 
to take the first step in such a career as mine. When the first 
step is taken in the paths of sin, it is very difficult to stop.'" 

Companionship did it. It can make or mar a man. It is 
powerful even to disprove the truth of the familiar maxim, 
" The boy is father to the man." The promising boy is trans- 
formed into the felon. All the good lessons of home are nulli- 



CHOICE OF COMPANIONS. 109 

fied, and the language, spirits, and habits of the saloon and 
other evil resorts are substituted. Nothing good, fair, and 
beautiful can withstand its destructive power. The picture is 
relieved only by the fact that good companionship has equal 
power to ennoble and bless forever. It can do more for a 
youth than wealth, home, or books. Even the blessings of 
schools and churches are the outcome, in a large measure, of 
the high and pure companionships that are found there. 

Beware of companions whose moral character is below 
your own, unless you associate with them solely to reform 
them. Avoid those who depreciate true worth, and speak 
lightly of the best class of citizens, and sneer at reforms. 
They who sip wine, use profane and vulgar language, think 
that man cannot be successful in business and be honest, find 
their pleasure in the circus, theater, or ball room, instead of 
books, lectures, and literary society, are not suitable compan- 
ions. They may not be bad young people, but their moral 
tone is below yours, and hence they are perilous associates for 
you. Rather choose those of higher, nobler aims, whose aspira- 
tions are to be true and useful, who would not, knowingly, risk 
a stain upon their life-work, with whom "a good name is bet- 
ter than great riches," and whose strong purpose is to make 
the best record possible. 

Strength of character may successfully resist the worst 
companionship. The princess regent of Russia planned to de- 
stroy the claim of Peter the Great to the throne by subjecting 
him to the company of a hundred profligate young Russians. 
Peter was a youth of sagacity, sobriety, and moral principle, so 
that his character withstood the test without a blemish. In- 
stead of being lured into excesses of any kind, he beguiled his 
wayward companions into "the love of manly sports and 
military exercises." The evil designed by the princess was 
rebuked by the failure of her fiendish plot. 

Thomas Jefferson's life was shaped by the companionship of 
his early years. He was an excellent scholar, fond of books, 
and bent upon securing a thorough education. He commenced 
the study of Latin and Greek at nine years of age, and entered 
William and Mary College, at Williamsburg, Virginia, when 
he was seventeen. At this time be was a remarkable youth, 
whose personal appearance attracted many friends older than 
himself. Among them were Francis Farquier, governor of 



110 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the colony, Doctor William Sewell, professor of mathematics, 
and George Wythe, an eminent lawyer,— all citizens of Wil- 
liamsburg. These men were much with young Jefferson, 
whom they treated as a younger brother, and their influence 
over him was very decided. Governor Farquier was a skep- 
tic, and he converted the youth into another, while the other 
two gentlemen inspired him with the desire to become a public 
man. Their companionship really decided his career. 






CHAPTER V. 

JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 

PLACES EMPHASIS ON PERSEVERING EFFORT ENTRANCE INTO POLIT- 
ICAL LIFE A VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN ELECTED TO CONGRESS IN THE 

UNITED STATES SENATE AS AN ORATOR MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS 

TONE OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE HIS AN- 
CESTRY YOUTH AND EDUCATION MILITARY CAREER — BEGINS THE 

STUDY OF LAW THE LAWYER PERSONALITY. THE IMPORTANCE OF 

PERSEVERANCE. 

Success in life, whether confined to business pursuits or 
to professional or public careers, is reached in many differ- 
ent ways. Sometimes it is largely a matter 
of chance, or environment ; more often, how- 
ever, it is dependent upon the personal equa- 
tion of the individual. Opportunity, natural 
equipment, application, purpose, self-reliance, 
all have their proper place in its attainment, 
but primarily, in my opinion, in order to suc- 
ceed as we ordinarily construe it, a man has 
to do two things : first, find out what he 
I] wants to get or to do ; secdnd, stick, stick, 
stick. 
Any man who has these qualifications has the qualities 
of knowing what to attempt, and of sustained effort. He 
has all the chances of success in his favor. 





HE position of pre-eminence in the political life of 
Virginia occupied by John Warwick Daniel may be 
said to date from about twenty years ago. Previous 
to that he was a force in politics. He had been a mem- 
ber of the Virginia House of Delegates and the state Senate. 
He had attained high rank as a lawyer. His reputation as 
an orator had extended beyond the borders of the state. But 



112 LEADERS OF MEN. 

when in 1881, at the Democratic State convention at Rich- 
mond, he was nominated for governor, and accepted in a 
speech that quickened the pulses and roused to enthusiasm 
the great party gathering, his political fortune was made. 
True, before the fact became apparent, he had to suffer the 
pang of defeat. The funding of the state debt was the issue. 
Thousands of voters who had for years supported Demo- 
cratic candidates at every election, joined with the solid 
black and white Republican party to defeat the "Bourbon 
Flinders," as they called the regular Democracy. The Coali- 
tion, under the name of Readjusters, triumphed at the polls, 
Daniel went down, and William E. Cameron was elevated to 
the governorship. 

It was a titanic battle. Both the candidates were bril- 
liant, aggressive, and tireless. The ablest platform speakers 
in the commonwealth, and many from elsewhere, stumped 
the state from end to end, meeting, in every town and county, 
foemen worthy of their steel. For forensic fury and sus- 
tained, excited public interest, it was a campaign without a 
parallel in the annals of Virginia politics. As many as one 
hundred and eighty speeches were made at different points in 
a single day, and the fight went fiercely on until the polls 
closed on the day of election. 

It was in that fiery struggle that Daniel came in touch 
with the whole state, revealing to the people everywhere his 
high motives and his qualifications for leadership, while over 
all he threw the spell of his magnetic eloquence. In the light 
of events that followed, it is seen that he then established 
himself firmly in the confidence of the rank and file. The 
forces allied against his party in that contest could not then 
be overcome. But from then till now his title to first place 
among political leaders in the popular regard has been seri- 
ously questioned but once. And the outcome of that one 
episode served but to further intrench him. 

The rule of the Readjuster regime was brief. The debt- 
scaling measure was passed by the legislature, and, after a 
long series of contentions in the courts, was made effective. 
A Democratic State convention, accepting the readjustment 
as the verdict of the people, and res ad judicata, formally 
acquiesced in the settlement. Men in great numbers, who 
had with reluctance separated from the party on the debt 



JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 113 

issue, returned with eagerness to its ranks. The power of 
Gen. William Mahone, masterful but despotic, who had 
organized the victory of the Readjusters, had moreover been 
tremendously weakened by the refusal of certain conspicuous 
adherents of his party in the legislature to obey the com- 
mands from party headquarters. The breach thus made 
never healed, but widened, for Mahone brooked no insubordi- 
nation — he asked for no quarter and gave none. From these 
and a variety of other causes, after a bitter and tragic cam- 
paign in 1883, the Democrats regained control of the legisla- 
ture. Two years later, the Democratic candidate, Gen. 
Fitzhugh Lee, was elected governor, defeating John S. Wise. 
Another Democratic legislature was chosen, and the reju- 
venated Democracy was again firm in the saddle. 

John S. Barbour, president of the Virginia Midland Rail- 
road, was the chairman of the Democratic State Executive 
Committee during these critical contests, and he and his lieu- 
tenants had perfected an organization of the party more 
thorough and far-reaching than had ever been known. Bar- 
bour, not a speaker, but a worker ; Barbour, silent, sagacious, 
efficient, had done a giant's part toward wresting the state 
from the control of the opposition. The sentiment of the 
party toward him was that of gratitude mingled with admira- 
tion. Meanwhile, in 1884, Major Daniel had been elected to 
the lower house of Congress from his district. He had been 
taking part in every campaign with all his zeal and fire, with 
every appearance before an audience adding to his prestige 
and power among the people. It was universally understood 
that these two men were slated for the United States Senate 
to succeed Mahone and Riddleberger, the senators elected by 
the Readjusters. Mahone's term expired first, in 1887 ; Rid- 
dleberger's expired in 1889. The names of their successors 
were known of all men, before the legislature met in Decem- 
ber, 1885,— but which should it be, Barbour and Daniel or 
Daniel and Barbour ? 

That was the question the legislature had to decide. It 
would have pleased the majority to honor both candidates in 
the most conspicuous manner. But a choice had to be made, 
and upon Daniel fell the mantle. Barbour's turn came two 
years later, but the preference given to his younger com- 
petitor in the first instance set the seal of popular support 



H4 LEADERS OF MEN. 

upon Daniel in a way that the circumstances rendered doubly 
impressive. Not smce then has any contest been made 
against him for the office of United States senator from Vir- 
ginia. He has been twice re-elected, by the legislatures of 
1891-2 and 1897-8, both times unanimously. 

Since his advent in the Senate, the reputation and influence 
of Senator Daniel have steadily widened. It is a forum for 
which he is peculiarly fitted by inclination, talents, and educa- 
tion, and his long service has added invaluable experience to 
his other qualifications. Now, in the prime of his matured 
powers, he is one of the counselors whom the Senate always 
hears with attention, and often applauds. His prominence 
has become national, and in Democratic National conven- 
tions he is a well-known and conspicuous figure. In 1896, 
most probably he could have had the nomination for vice- 
president for the asking. 

As a member of the Senate Committees on Foreign Rela- 
tions and on Finance, and of the Industrial Commission, he 
has had to deal with subjects of permanent and universal im- 
portance. Bringing to the task a well-stored, well-trained, 
comprehending mind, and a patriotic purpose, his counsel is 
respected and his advice valued by men of all parties. He is 
easily one of the leaders of the minority in the Chamber, and 
in many of the great debates his words have attracted the 
attention of the whole country. 

Senator Daniel's record is that of a career, not an episode. 
The forces by which it has been promoted are various. It 
cannot be doubted, however, that the chief agency to bring 
his abilities and worth into public view and public favor at 
the outset, was his brilliancy as an orator. Daniel as a 
speaker makes a strong appeal to a people of sensibility and 
patriotism. His appearance on the platform is impressive 
and engaging. He has a handsome face, strong yet pleasing, 
and marked with the lines that bespeak the man of serious 
reflection. His fine head is crowned with hair almost black, 
and worn rather long, which, at sixty, shows scarcely a trace 
of gray. He comes forward always to the music of hand- 
clapping and cheers. He walks with a limp that has a his- 
tory, being the result of a severe wound received in 1864, 
when, as Major Daniel, the young Confederate officer, he was 
fighting for the "Lost Cause" in the battles of the Wilder- 



JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 115 

ness. The efforts of admirers to coin a sobriquet that should 
refer to his war record have not been altogether successful, 
the product being "The Lame Lion of the Virginia Democ- 
racy," and, for those more fond of alliteration, "The Lame 
Lion of Lynchburg." It needs not to be said that the phys- 
ical reminder of his gallantry in battle detracts nothing from 
his "stage presence" — most certainly not in the eyes of a Vir- 
ginia audience. It but adds a touch of pathos to the grace of 
his bearing. His voice is sonorous, with music in it, capable 
of expressing a wide range of feeling ; his gestures, not too 
frequent, are graceful without being theatrical ; his manner, 
while at times exceedingly vigorous, seldom reaches the stage 
of excitement. Denunciatory in a personal way, he rarely is, 
and only under the stress of strong provocation. Buffoonery 
is foreign to his style. 

Senator Daniel for years has been in great demand as a 
speaker on all sorts of occasions. His addresses have covered 
a great variety of subjects. Speeches on the political issues, 
as they vary in successive campaigns, have, of course, been 
most numerous. He has, however, moved many a gathering 
of Confederate veterans to laughter and tears and enthusi- 
asm with reminiscences of camp and field, and appeals to 
noble sentiment. He has delivered literary addresses at col- 
lege commencements, engaged in dignified controversy on the 
floor of the Senate, and in arguments before courts and juries, 
and in the rough-and-tumble joint debate of the campaign 
tour. He has spoken on a number of occasions that are his- 
toric — his address on Washington in the hall of the House 
of Representatives on the completion of the Washington 
monument, and that on Lee at the unveiling of the recumbent 
statue of the Confederate leader at Lexington, are master- 
pieces of their kind. Many others might be included in the 
same category. 

He has wide-sweeping command of the resources of the 
language, and words when used by him seem to fall without 
effort on his part into rhythmic sentences, or energetic, con- 
vincing phrases, as the moment may demand. If in later 
years there is less of a certain exuberance that marked his 
earlier speeches, there is not less of richness and beauty, and 
even more of salient thought and convincing power. It is the 
minted product. Variety and force of illustration continue, 



116 LEADERS OF MEN. 

while the play of fancy and the brilliant climax work their 
magic still. 

Given an occasion and a subject worthy of his powers, 
Senator Daniel will not hurry through. Opening with some 
happy hit, grave or gay, that puts him en rapport with his 
audience, he passes almost imperceptibly into his argument. 
Step by step it is developed, with here and there an anecdote 
to divert, a bit of history or philosophy to point a moral, or a 
burst of eloquence to inspire. With striking facility he mar- 
shals facts and knowledge for the purposes in hand. Through 
it all, the line of his reasoning is kept close and unbroken, 
until the conclusion seems to follow as naturally as the se- 
quence of days. His method is persuasive rather than per- 
emptory, but is none the less compelling. "That's exactly 
what I think on that question, only he can tell it and I can't," 
was the tribute to Daniel from a man who had listened to him 
intently for over two hours. 

While his eloquence was Daniel's first stepping-stone to 
political preferment, this fine gift cannot be set down as the 
sole bulwark of his political strength. This has endured so 
long in the past, consistently growing all the while, and prom- 
ises to continue so long in the future, that broader foundations 
must be sought. As the people have come to know him bet- 
ter and better, they have come to realize and appreciate more 
fully the high order of ability with which he is endowed, the 
rectitude of the sentiments and motives which actuate him, 
his loyalty to the best traditions of the state, his unquestion- 
able integrity, and the genuineness of his democracy. 

With well-balanced judgment, cultivated by reflection and 
experience, he is not easily deceived by "the shouting and the 
tumult." Though comporting himself as a representative of 
the people, and not a dictator, yet he has often made his hand 
felt as a restraining force. He is not given to extremes, and 
recklessness or undue haste in matters affecting the public 
interest he is not afraid to oppose, having confidence that the 
"sober second thought" will sustain him. "War," said he 
in the Senate when so many members of his party were 
clamoring for immediate aggressive action — "war," said 
Daniel, "can wait a day." He was fordoing things — even 
the things that had to be done — deliberately, and in order. 
He desired to omit no precaution, or even formality, that 



JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 117 

might afterward be needed to justify the course of this coun- 
try, in the view of the enlightened sentiment of the world. In 
Virginia his political utterances have much weight. He does 
not assume the tone of an oracle, but expresses his views with 
the reasons for them, as something to be considered and not 
to be swallowed with eyes closed. Thus is enlisted the atten- 
tion of the thinking element, and the influence on public opin- 
ion is obviously far greater than could be wielded through the 
cocksure edict of a "boss." 

Amid the criticism and censure that have been aimed at 
the United States Senate in recent years, there has never been 
a suggestion that an unworthy motive has inspired any act of 
Senator Daniel. In respect of personal and official integrity, 
he is absolutely above suspicion. Whatever verdict may be 
passed by ally or antagonist concerning him or his course, it 
never takes the color of an intimation that he is corrupt. 
On that point the people of Virginia feel secure. They know 
that Daniel is a clean man, and know it so well that the con- 
trary idea never presents itself. Political mistakes and errors 
of judgment many may attribute to him ; dishonesty, none. 
This is a tower of strength in the midst of the modern fashion- 
able outcry concerning corruption in public life. 

Daniel's attitude is that of a Democrat from conviction 
and principle. His effort is to place himself at the stand- 
point of the masses, and then to evolve his own conclusions. 
His opinions so arrived at may or may not satisfy all men, 
but as to his point of view there can be no doubt. He identi- 
fies himself with the people at large, and he joins with them 
in attacking problems involving the common welfare. It 
would be surprising in an age of independent thought if his 
solution should in every case receive universal approbation. 
But in every case it is felt that he himself is convinced, and 
deliberately convinced, that he is acting for the best interests 
of his constituency. There is no fear that on any issue involv- 
ing a principle he will place himself in any other position — that 
he will allow himself to be diverted from his course by either 
the lures or the threats of any class as opposed to the whole. 

Senator Daniel keeps in touch with the people. He is very 
approachable, ready to hear the opinions of others, anxious 
for new light from any source. In his many campaigns he 
has met the citizens of the commonwealth of all classes, on 



118 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the court green, by the fireside, on the railroad train, as well 
as in the mansion, the political council, and the hall of legis- 
lation. He marks the trend of public opinion, continually 
refreshing his interest in the subjects that enlist the attention 
of those whom he represents. He keeps himself in a position 
to act on information rather than hearsay. 

This identification in interest and aspiration with the 
masses, and respect for them as the source of power in a free 
government, is one of the secrets of his strong and apparently 
permanent hold upon their support, and, it may be added, 
upon their affections. Here again comes, indispensably, the 
confidence of the public in his sincerity. He is a man of 
ideals, and the fact is recognized — ideals of government and 
civic development toward which he endeavors to lead the 
way by such steps as may be practicable in the changing con- 
ditions of the times. 

Honors rest so fittingly upon the shoulders of Senator 
Daniel, and time has touched him so lightly, that the fact is 
apt to be overlooked that his success has been a growth, 
reached by successive stages from his youth to the present 
day. Advantages he had which do not fall to the lot of every 
man, but, with all that, he has had to carve out his own career, 
to abide defeats as well as to win victories, and whatever he 
has become must be attributed in chief degree to his own well- 
directed efforts in the use of his powers and his opportunities. 
He comes of old Virginia stock, and of a family of lawyers. 
His father, Judge William Daniel, Jr., and his grandfather, 
also named William, were both lawyers and judges of dis- 
tinction. John W. Daniel was born in Lynchburg on Septem- 
ber 5, 1842. His early inclination was toward the profession 
with which his family had been so prominently identified. 
He attended in his boyhood days several of the excellent 
private schools at his home. At the old Lynchburg College 
in the late fifties his favorite field of effort was not so much 
the class room as the platform. The weapon that in the fu- 
ture was to prove so notably efficient was already shaping 
itself, and as declaimer, debater, and orator he shone even 
then among his contemporaries. Public debates participated 
in by the students, and attended by the people of the town 
generally, in those days were not infrequent, and on such 
occasions Daniel carried off a large share of the honors. He 



JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 119 

is remembered also by his schoolfellows as a youth of kindly 
impulses, sociable in disposition, courteous and companion- 
able, and fond of the outdoor sports of the time. 

The war between the states came on and young Daniel, 
nineteen years of age, went to the front, soon thereafter be- 
ing elected second lieutenant of Company A, Eleventh Vir- 
ginia Regiment. Subsequent promotions raised him to the 
rank of major, on the staff of Gen. Jubal A. Early. His 
three strenuous years in the army were full of incident and 
abundantly exciting, and his record was one of gallant con- 
duct and devotion to duty. He received four wounds at dif- 
ferent times, the last being the most serious. On the 6th of 
May, 1864, during the Battle of the Wilderness, he was in the 
act of leading forward a section of the Confederate force. It 
was not a duty required of a major of the staff, but he saw a 
point where it appeared that a mounted officer could be of 
service, and there he went. On horseback and in front of the 
soldiers on foot, he was a good mark. A detachment of the 
enemy seemed to rise up from the ground in the woods just 
ahead. A volley came, and Major Daniel was unhorsed. A 
large femoral vein had been opened by the bullet, and there 
was danger. His own presence of mind and the timely aid of 
a comrade from the ranks saved him from bleeding to death, 
but his active service in the army was over. The thigh bone 
had been shattered, and it is still necessary for him to use 
crutches. 

After the close of the struggle at arms, Major Daniel found 
himself in the thick of the battle of life. The environment of 
wealth that had been his lot in his boyhood had been changed 
by the blight of war, and he had his own future to make. It 
required no prophet then to predict that it would be a bright 
one. He studied law at the University of Virginia for a year, 
incidentally carrying off the highest honors for oratory. Re- 
turning to Lynchburg, he engaged in the practice of law with 
his father, the partnership continuing until the death of 
Judge Daniel seven years later. John Daniel devoted him- 
self earnestly to the labors of his profession, and soon estab- 
lished himself at the bar. His intellectual gifts, his talents 
as speaker and advocate, and his popularity soon marked 
him, however, for the political arena. There was urgent call 
for the brightest and best in those troubled times. In 18G9 he 



120 LEADERS OF MEN. 

was elected to the state legislature as a member of the House 
of Delegates, remaining in that body for three years. In 1875, 
he was elected to the State Senate, was re-elected four years 
later, and was a state senator when nominated for governor 
in 1881. In the meantime, he had twice been an unsuccessful 
candidate for the Democratic nomination for Congress, the 
honor being awarded to older men, and in 1877, his name had 
been presented to the Democratic State convention for gov- 
ernor. There was a deadlock between him and his leading 
competitor, and a dark horse won. The result of the unsuc- 
cessful but splendidly fought campaign of 1881 has already 
been told. In 1884, Major Daniel was nominated and elected 
to the National House of Representatives from the Sixth 
District of Virginia. Here he served but one term, his election 
to the Federal Senate occurring in the meantime. He began 
his service in that body in 1887. 

Major Daniel's rank as a lawyer is high and of long stand- 
ing. When he was a comparatively young man, in his thirties, 
he was rated among the leaders at the Virginia bar. His 
reputation in this regard, extended and strengthened by time 
and experience, rests upon a solid basis. His thoroughness of 
equipment and power of concentration are no less marked 
than his eloquence and skill as an advocate. He does not 
spare himself in point of hard labor when affairs of moment 
claim his attention; indeed, his intensity of application at 
times is extreme. He turns the light from many directions 
on the subject before him. Not merely the letter of the law, 
but literature, history, philosophy, any and all of them, 
furnish tools for his mental laboratory, and he uses them 
with an ease and deftness of touch that is as fascinating as it 
is enlightening. In elucidation he is a master, having an 
instant perception of essentials and the ability to extract from 
a seeming chaos of facts the relevant and the significant. 

Senator Daniel is the author of two law books which are 
accepted as standards — "Daniel on Negotiable Instruments" 
and "Daniel on Attachments.'' Among the honors which 
have been bestowed upon him is the degree of LL.D., con- 
ferred by both Washington and Lee University and the Uni- 
versity of Michigan. 

Senator Daniel is not a wealthy man. The time and the 
talents that might have brought him riches have been de- 






JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 121 

voted in greater part, during many years of his life, to his 
legislative duties and the political responsibilities which leader- 
ship imposes. He applies himself to these as assiduously as 
the business man does to the affairs of his countingroom. He 
lives in modest style in Washington during the sessions of 
Congress, and, during the recesses, at his residence in Camp- 
bell county, ahout a mile from the corporate limits of Lynch- 
burg. Here, on the crest of a hill, surrounded by a fine land- 
scape of fields and woods, mountains and valleys, he has a 
delightful home, where he lives with his interesting family, 
comfortably but unostentatiously. 

He is a man of exceptionally attractive personality. His 
manner is of the courtly type, but unaffected, cordial, and 
friendly withal. He does not hedge himself in. In the more 
intimate circle, he is genial, responsive, and unreserved. He 
cherishes his friendships, and they are many. 

Without sacrifice of dignity, he is essentially democratic in 
his mingling with men. The atmosphere of popular applause 
in which he has lived for a quarter of a century has not un- 
duly elated him, nor caused him to forget that "a man's a 
man for a' that." And with all his attainments, it may well 
be believed that not the least important factor in his educa- 
tion has been the free and friendly contact with many kinds 
of men of his own country in his own day and generation. 

Senator Daniel's passport to promotion and success in pub- 
lic life is found in the fullness with which he has measured up 
to his opportunities ; the ability in a constantly expanding 
sphere of influence and activity, to meet the emergencies, and 
to fulfill the expectations of the people ; always ready, and 
ready with the best there is in him. Throughout he has been 
faithful to the fundamental ideas of democracy, and the confi- 
dence of the people in the sincerity of his purpose has never 
been shaken. He is a stanch party man, generally in full har- 
mony with the organization leaders ; but his real strength is 
with the people themselves, independent to a remarkable de- 
gree of the ordinary devices of what is called " practical poli- 
tics." He has already served in the Federal Senate longer 
than any other member from Virginia in the history of the 
state, and he will, from all indications, continue there for an 
indefinite period. Under modern conditions, the term " favor- 
ite son" is generally a misnomer ; in Daniel's case it may be 



122 LEADERS OF MEN. 

applied literally. He has not escaped criticism, of course ; no 
man of convictions can escape it. But personally and politi- 
cally, he is held in high regard throughout the state. He is 
thoroughly trusted, after having been in the public eye for 
thirty odd" years. One of the newspaper editorials written at 
the time Daniel was nominated for the state Senate, a quarter 
of a century ago, spoke of his exceptional qualifications, his 
patriotism, his eminence as a lawyer, and predicted for him a 
"still higher niche in the Temple of Fame" than that of a 
state senator. The references to Major Daniel were in strong 
terms of eulogy. There was one word in italics, and that 
word was " integrity." Twenty-seven years later, it can still 
be underscored. 

Senator Daniel's achievement and the best of his reward 
are not wholly disclosed by the bare appellation of United 
States Senator. Nor can they be briefly summed up, since, 
aside from the conspicuous part he has had in national politi- 
cal conventions and the federal legislative bodies, his hand 
and voice for two decades and more have been potential in 
all the prominent councils and policies of the party that con- 
trols in his commonwealth. He is the representative Vir- 
ginian of his time. There is no great political movement but 
that there is call for him at the front ; no state enterprise that 
does not seek his support ; no great civic or patriotic demon- 
stration that is quite complete without his presence. It is a 
flattering distinction, and rare, and it falls to the lot of a man 
but once in a while. 

PERSEVERANCE. 

PERSEVERANCE means the steady pursuit of a planJ 
whether good or bad ; but it would be very unwise tqf 
persevere in a plan which conscience or practice had 
proved to be bad. In actual life, where there are so many 
different pursuits, and different ways of doing the same thing, 
it means steadiness in the execution of whatever plan is de- 
termined upon. Burgh makes mention of a merchant who, 
at first setting out, opened and shut his shop every day, for 
several weeks together, without selling goods to the value of 
one penny, who, by the force of application for a course of 
years, rose at last to a handsome fortune. "But I have 
known," he says, " many who had a variety of opportunities 




SENATOR JOHN W. DANIEL. 



PERSEVERANCE. 125 

of settling themselves comfortably in the world, yet, for want 
of steadiness to carry any scheme to perfection, they sank 
from one degree of wretchedness to another for many years 
together, without the least hopes of ever getting above dis- 
tress and pinching want. There is hardly an employment in 
life so trifling that it will not afford a subsistence, if con- 
stantly and faithfully followed. Indeed, it is by indefatigable 
diligence alone that a fortune can be acquired in any business 
whatever." 

An accomplished author says: "The man who is per- 
petually hesitating which of two things he will do first, will 
do neither. The man who resolves, but suffers his resolution 
to be changed by the first counter-suggestion of a friend — 
who fluctuates from opinion to opinion, from plan to plan, and 
veers like a weathercock to every point of the compass with 
every breath of caprice that blows — can never accomplish 
anything great or useful. Instead of being progressive in 
anything he will be at best stationary, and more probably ret- 
rograde in all. It is only the man who carries into his pur- 
suits that great quality which Lucan ascribes to Caesar, Nescia 
virtus stare loco — who first consults wisely, then resolves 
firmly, and then executes his purpose with inflexible perse- 
verance, undismayed by those petty difficulties which daunt 
a weaker spirit — that can advance to eminence in any line.""" 

If anyone is in doubt as to what perseverance is, he may 
soon find it out by a little observation. Look round among your 
friends and acquaintances ; there is perhaps among them an 
example of perseverance. Keep your eye on him for a time ; 
does it not seem as though he had a double vitality within 
him, some other man's life as well as his own ? It is true that 
his heart beats and his blood circulates in the same way as 
that of other men, but you cannot help fancying that there is 
something else in the circulation invigorating every nerve 
and^nuscle, only to cease when the wonderful machine stands 
still. If at times it seems to be idle, you may be sure that it 
is not real idleness — but only a pause for a new start. 

In the possession of rank and riches he may, perhaps, not 
be so well off — that is, not so bountifully supplied as many 
of his neighbors ; but yet he goes on with a cheerful, hopeful 
spirit, which sustains him in trials that would swamp ordi- 
nary people. There is reciprocal cause and effect ; perse- 



126 LEADERS OF MEN. 

verance promotes cheerfulness, and cheerfulness promotes 
perseverance. He who is never idle, who has no waste time, 
is in the fairest way to secure contentment of mind and body. 
Nine times out of ten, the idle man, he who has nothing to 
do, is unhappy, and is put to all sorts of shifts to kill time — 
the most lamentable kind of murder. There is something 
terrible in the idea of flinging away one's breathing moments, 
hours and days which are only lent to us, as though they were 
worthless. No one likes to fling away shillings by the hand- 
ful, and yet how few hesitate to squander minutes ! 

Not so, however, with the persevering. He has an object 
in view, and strives to accomplish it. Early and late he fol- 
lows it up, finding time not too long, but too short. He can- 
not do half that he would in a day ; all his waking moments 
are employed with the duty he has in hand, or in thinking 
about it. 

Whether in business or pleasure, he knows how to make 
the most of a minute. Idle gossip, trivial recreation, dissipat- 
ing pursuits, have no charms for him ; there is a purpose in 
all that he undertakes, whether of business or pleasure. If 
at times he fail, he tries again — and again — and still tries, 
come what may. It is a fine, manly quality, this persever- 
ance, especially when well directed. 

President Lincoln was asked, ''How does Grant impress 
you as a leading general ? " 

" The greatest thing about him is cool persistency of pur- 
pose," he replied. "He is not easily excited, and he has the 
grip of a bulldog. When he once gets his teeth in, nothing 
can shake him off." 

That is perseverance, — putting the teeth of invincible pur- 
pose into the object sought, and holding on until it is yours ! 
Even in religion this is the condition ; the angel will go if you 
will let him ; Jacob wrestled with him, and compelled him to 
stay or bless. He cried aloud, "I will not let thee go, except 
thou bless me." 

Success yields to such persistency, as the angel did. 

But it was a good angel that Jacob wrestled with. There 
are fallen angels : beware of them. Let them go if they will. 
Woe to the youth, male or female, who wrestles with a bad 
angel ! for his perseverance will drive him over the road to 
ruin at a rapid rate. It is only when a person is sure of being 



PERSEVERANCE. 127 

in the right way, that perseverance becomes a great blessing 
to him. The Bible calls it "patient continuance in well-do- 
ing." This is perseverance of the saints. 

But "patient continuance" in evil-doing is the persever- 
ance of sinners, which every wise and thoughtful youth will 
shun. 

Stephenson, the inventor of the locomotive, addressed an 
audience of mechanics in the city of Leeds, his purpose being 
to encourage them in persistent efforts to reach a higher 
standard in their pursuits. 

"I stand before you," he said, "as a humble mechanic. I 
commenced my career on a lower level than any man here. 
I make this remark to encourage young mechanics to do as I 
have done, — to persevere. The humblest of you occupy a 
much more favorable position than I did on commencing my 
life of labor. The civil engineer has many difficulties to con- 
tend with ; but if the man wishes to rise to the higher grades 
of the profession, he must never see any difficulties before 
him. Obstacles may appear to be difficulties, but the engi- 
neer must be prepared to throw them overboard or to conquer 
them." 

It is characteristic of perseverance not to see difficulties, or 
expect defeat. It anticipates success. 

When Columbus was searching for the New World, his 
ship's crew became discouraged, and rose in rebellion. They 
insisted upon turning back, instead of persevering on a fool's 
errand. There was no New World to be found, in their view. 

But this commander expected to find it ; he had not the 
least doubt of it. Still, under the circumstances, he was 
obliged to compromise with them ; and he promised that, if 
they would be patient and faithful three days longer, he 
would abandon the enterprise, unless land should be dis- 
covered. 

Before the three days expired, however, the New World 
burst upon their view. 

That last three days was the gift of perseverance, and it 
saved the expedition from disaster and disgrace. The three 
days were only a fractional part of the time consumed by the 
voyage, but they were worth to Columbus all that his life and 
the New World were worth. Months and years of labor, 
study, and care had been spent, requiring decision, energy, 



128 LEADERS OF MEN. 

industry, and courage clear up to the last three days, all of 
which would have been worse than wasted had Columbus 
yielded to the mutiny and abandoned the enterprise. 

Such is frequently the value of even one day or hour in ac- 
complishing a purpose. That brief time, wrested from ignoble 
failure, is not only worth more than all the rest, but it gives 
value to all the rest. 

Robert Bruce took this hint from a spider. He had made 
several unsuccessful attempts to possess his kingdom and 
crown, and his heart began to fail him. He was exhausted, 
and was seeking concealment from his foes in a shattered 
barn, where, lying upon his back, he discovered a spider cast- 
ing its silken line from one beam to another. Six times in 
succession the attempt was made and failed, but the seventh 
time the persistent little creature succeeded. 

Bruce took the hint and sprang to his feet, his soul on fire 
with hope revived, and his heart expectant of victory ; and he 
soon sat upon the throne of Scotland. 

He learned that the value of the seventh effort was great- 
est of all ; indeed, that all previous efforts were valueless 
without it. 

The lack of perseverance becomes manifest, sooner or 
later, in both old and young, and that, too, in the different 
relations of life. This class behold many difficulties in the 
way, " I can't ! " being a very prominent phrase in their vo- 
cabulary. 

They begin enterprises with more enthusiasm than they 
end them, — that is, when they end them at all. They are 
more likely to begin and soon drop the object for something 
else, thus changing from one thing to another until they illus- 
trate "the rolling stone" that "gathers no moss." 

In school, lessons are "too long," or "too hard," or "too 
difficult," or too something else ; their tasks are half done, or 
not done at all ; they are poor scholars, and make a very poor 
exhibit of themselves ; on the farm, and in the workshop, 
they find a large amount of "drudgery"; a day's work is 
"too long," or the pay "too small," to enlist their best efforts. 
So they make an exhibition of their indifference, indolence, 
and shiftlessness. 

An amusing story is told of a scholar whose indolence by 
far exceeded his perseverance. The class were reading the 



PERSEVERANCE. 129 

third chapter of Daniel where the proper names Shadrach, 
Meshach, and Abednego were encountered. Most of the class 
found it difficult to speak them, but all persevered and over- 
came the difficulty, except one indolent youth. 

In a few days the teacher had the class read the same 
chapter again, in order to drill them on the pronunciation of 
these names. The indolent boy read the text unusually well 
squarely up to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when he 
spoke out, in the most disheartened manner : — 

" Teacher, there's them three fellers again." 

It is not only "three fellers" which block the way of those 
who lack perseverance, but scores of them, of all sorts and 
colors. 

Many years ago, a student lost his eyesight by a missile 
thrown by a classmate. His father was an eminent jurist, 
and was educating the son for the bar, but this calamity pre- 
vented the prosecution of the original plan. 

Strange as it may seem, however, the son resolved to be- 
come an author. He spent ten years of close, systematic 
study, using the eyes of an assistant, of course, before he 
selected his theme. Then he spent another ten years in care- 
ful research, exploring archives, libraries, correspondence, 
and consulting official documents and old chronicles. Then 
followed his great history, "Ferdinand and Isabella" when 
he was forty years old; "Mexico," "Peru," and "Philip the 
Second " appeared in due time, establishing his reputation as 
a profound historian on both sides of the Atlantic. 

The perseverance of Prescott is almost unparalleled in 
human effort. 

There is so much to be said in favor of keeping on. Apart 
from any ultimate benefit, the habit of occupation is a per- 
petual charm, preserving the mind from a host of irritations 
and discontents. Sailors when in danger of shipwreck, find 
it best to keep on making efforts to save themselves, even if 
they perish at last, rather than to sit still and think about the 
horrors of their situation. Far better to swim badly than not 
to swim at all, if there be a chance of escaping drowning. 
For one devil that tempts the busy man, there are a hundred 
circumventing the idle one. 

The question is sometimes asked, whether a man may 
learn to be persevering — for, if perseverance be of such value 



130 LEADERS OF MEN. 

and benefit, why should not all possess it ? The answer is, 
that a man may learn to persevere if he will. Timid people 
have learned how to subdue their timidity, cowards have be- 
come brave by dint of trying, and the feeble have felt that 
strength may be gained by proper exercise. So a man may 
learn perseverance. To do this, he must begin by believing 
that he can do it. He must not be disheartened at the outset 
by certain stock phrases which seem to tell against him, such 
as " prerogative of genius," or "predominance of the natal 
star " ; he must set these down as " cabalistic nonsense," and 
confide in the assurance that " diligence overcomes all." 
Truly has it been said that "there are few difficulties that 
hold out against real attacks ; they fly, like the visible horizon 
before those who advance." A passionate desire and un- 
wearied will can perform impossibilities, or what seem to be 
such to the cold and feeble. If we do but go on, some unseen 
path will open upon the hills. jSTothing good or great is to be 
attained without courage and industry. Resist unto the end. 
It may be truly said of difficulty, what is fabulously said of 
the devil — talk of it, think of it, and forthwith it will be 
present with you. For one substance of it, as the poet says 
of grief, there are at least twenty shadows. Let no one doubt 
that perseverance may be learned until he has tried bravely 
and honestly for a year. 

To those who can and do persevere, we would say — "Go 
on ; but see that what you strive for is worth the effort." 
Remember that there is a false as well as a true perseverance, 
and it is possible to waste the energies of a life on unworthy 
objects. " By their fruits shall ye know them." We are com- 
manded to be " diligent in business," but this is not the whole. 
We must persevere with our inward life as well as our out- 
ward life ; there should be harmony between the two, if we 
are to feel that each day, as it passes, has helped to refine our 
mind, soften our heart, or heighten our love of justice. 

To those who persevere only by fits and starts — now hot, 
now cold — we would say, "Never give up." Do not lose 
courage or grow weary. Slow as the tortoise crept, he 
reached the goal before the sleeping hare. If you cannot run, 
walk ; if you cannot fly, plod. Plodding, humble as it seems, 
has done wonders, and will do more yet. Consider, further- 
more, that when the reward comes it is scarcely ever such as 






PERSEVERANCE. 131 

we anticipated. We may have aimed at getting rich ; the 
riches do not come. But instead thereof we find ourselves 
rich in mind ; conscious of having striven manfully to do the 
duty that lay before us, and in so doing have armed ourselves 
with a reliant spirit, which passes by small trials and looks on 
great ones with calm courage. 

View it as we will, the conclusion is inevitable that perse- 
verance is its own reward. 

" Never give up ! there are chances and changes 
Helping the hopeful a hundred to one, 
And through the chaos High Wisdom arranges 
Ever success — if you '11 only hope on ; 

" Never give up ! for the wiser is boldest, 

Knowing that Providence mingles the cup ; 
And of all maxims the best, as the oldest, 
Is the true watchword of — Never give up ! " 



CHAPTER VI. 

MARCUS ALONZO HANNA. 

THE KEY TO HIS SUCCESS A TYPICAL AMERICAN PARENTAGE 

LEAVES COLLEGE AND BEGINS WORK HIS EARLY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES 

QUALITIES AS A MANAGER FIRST MEETING WITH WILLIAM MCKINLEY 

THE EXPANSION OF HIS BUSINES8 INTERESTS WHY HE ENTERED POL- 
ITICS LATER POLITICAL CAREER THE CAMPAIGN OF 1896 A CONVEN- 
TION EPISODE CHARACTERISTICS NOT A BOSS AS AN ORATOR 

MORE CHARACTERISTICS BUSINESS METHODS ATTITUDE TOWARD LA- 
BOR. INDUSTRY. 



The question came up in our family councils whether I 
should go to work or go to college. I wanted to go to 
work. My mother said I should go to col- 
lege, so I went. 

I was young, innocent, confiding. One 
day some of the sophomores induced me to 
help distribute copies of a burlesque pro- 
gram of the exercises of the junior class. 
I stood on the steps handing them to the 
audience as they passed in. The president 
of the college came along. He grasped me 
by the shoulder and asked, " Young man, 
what are you doing '? " I replied that I was 
distributing literature in the interests of education and 
morality. I quit college soon after that. 

One day the president met me on the street. I had on 
blue overalls, and was hard at work. He looked at me 
with an expression which seemed to say, " Well, I guess 
you have found your right place ! " and I thought so, too. 
I liked work better than study. I have been hard at work 
ever since. Boys, don't be ashamed of work or overalls. 




jA$%b****^^^ 



ffl 



MARCUS ALONZO HANNA. 133 

ARCUS ALONZO HANNA is an American type. The 
story of his life epitomizes the biographies of thou- 
^~~ sands of other successful Americans. It is the dram- 
atization of energy — the romance of industrial achievement. 
In another one hundred years, perhaps, such romances will 
seem as remote from the life then living as stories of our 
Western border, bloody with Indian wars, appear to-day. 
Opportunity may not always stand knocking on the gate 
for American youths. But at any rate, the story of Senator 
Hanna's rise is a brave tale, and one well worth the telling. 

Senator Hanna was born in Ohio sixty-five years ago. Of 
his ancestry it is sufficient to say that he is a member of the 
Scotch-Irish society of Philadelphia, in full communion and 
good standing. His grandfather was bound out to a Quaker, 
and for the one hundred years last past the Hannas have been 
Quakers. In 1852 the Senator's father moved to Cleveland, 
and brought his seven children along. The elder Hanna 
started a grocery store, trading, more or less, in a wholesale 
way, on the lakes, particularly in the Lake Superior country. 
Young Mark plodded through the public schools and got 
enough education to admit him to the Western Reserve Uni- 
versity. But in 1857, after a year in college, he returned to 
Cleveland to learn the grocery business, which was growing, 
and had become exclusively a wholesale concern, with cus- 
tomers all over the lake region. A year or so later the elder 
Hanna sickened, and the management of the store fell on the 
boy, Mark. It was a heavy load to carry for a young man 
barely past his majority, but the responsibility put iron into 
him, and gave him the luck-stone of his life — the habit of in- 
dustry. It schooled him, as no university can, in the uses of 
grit and self-reliance and courage. It made a man of him at 
the time of life when other youths are addicted to the picnic 
habit. 

In 1862 Mark's father died, and the young man took charge 
of the business for the estate. When he closed up the store 
successfully five years later, he knew all about the grocery 
business, and his energy was proverbial in the town of Cleve- 
land. At the age of thirty he married, and went into business 
with his father-in-law, Daniel P. Rhodes. The firm Rhodes 
& Co. dealt in coal, iron ore, and pig iron. That was a 
generation ago. Young Hanna threw himself into that busi- 



134 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ness with passionate enthusiasm. He learned the iron trade 
from the bottom, omitting no circumstance. He was insa- 
tiably curious. He had an artist's thirst to know the how of 
things. He learned about coal mines and bought coal lands, 
learned about ore and bought mines, learned about boats and 
bought boats. Then he took his iron and his coal, and he 
built the first steel boats that ever plowed the lakes. He 
established foundries and forges and smelters. Men worked 
for him from western Pennsylvania to the base of the Rockies. 
He knew his men and he knew the work they did. He knew 
the value of a day's work, and he got it — he also paid for it. 
Where there was labor trouble the contest was short and de- 
cisive. The employer met the men himself. Either things 
were right or they were wrong. If he thought they were 
wrong, he fixed them on the spot. If he believed they were 
right, the work went on. 

In the early seventies the miners in the Rhodes & Co.'s 
mines formed a union. Mark Hanna studied the union as he 
"studied mines and ores and ships. He mastered its details, 
got the hang of it, and got up another union — a union of em- 
ployers. Then when the men at a mine had troubles, they 
conferred, not with the mine operator, but with the mine 
operators' union. The two unions got along without friction, 
until the walking delegate found himself deposed, after which 
Hanna's union dissolved. But the mining operators' union 
gave the first public recognition to organized labor which it 
had received at that time, and the invention was Hanna's. It 
was a practical thing. After the dissolution of the mine 
operators' union there was trouble. A number of arrests 
followed some shaft burning. Hanna went down to western 
Ohio to prosecute the men under arrest. They were defended 
by a young man named McKinley — William McKinley — 
and he did his work so well that most of the miners went 
scot-free, and those convicted got short terms. Hanna took a 
liking to the young lawyer whose tactics had won the legal 
battle which Hanna had lost. A friendship began which is 
now famous in contemporaneous history. Hanna had won 
his point in the strike. Perhaps he was in a mellow, expan- 
sive mood which may have tempered his admiration for the 
attorney for the strikers. 

The regularity with which Mark Hanna won in his labor 



MARCUS ALONZO HANNA. 135 

contests gave him business prestige. He says that he never 
let the men deal fairer with him than he dealt with them. 
His office door swings inward as easily on its hinges for the 
dollar-a-day man as for the superintendent. But they say in 
Cleveland that there is an automatic spring on it for the 
chronic grumbler, for the shirker, and for the walking dele- 
gate. The door swings out upon these men with force and 
emphasis. 

Mark Hanna is a hard worker. He asks none of his em- 
ployees to work as hard as he does. He has the intelligence 
which makes work easy and increases the capacity to do 
work. Genius is something of that sort. Hanna's secret is 
system. After he had reduced mining to a system, he added 
shipping, then he reduced that to a system and took on ship- 
building. Reducing that to its lowest terms, where the ma- 
chinery works smoothly, he built a street railway — made 
the cars of his coal and iron, and the rails of his steel. When 
he came to man that railway — the Cleveland City Street Rail- 
way — he had reduced the labor problem to such an exact 
science that there has never been a strike on that system, 
although the cars of other lines in Cleveland are tied up 
frequently. 

About this time Mark took a fancy to the theatrical busi- 
ness. He bought the town opera house and began studying 
the gentle art of making friends with the theatrical stars of 
the world. He learned the business of friendship thus as 
thoroughly as he learned the iron and coal and steel and ship 
and railway businesses. He omitted no detail ; he went the 
whole length — put on a play by Mr. Howells and invited the 
author out to see the job done properly. To-day Hanna has 
the friendship of men like Jefferson, Irving, Francis Wilson, 
Robson, Crane, — all of them, and the best of the playwrights. 
They know the appreciative eyes that laugh so easily, and he 
knows all the actors' stories and can find the paths that lead 
to their hearts. 

In the early eighties, apparently by the way of diversion, 
when the coal, iron ore, pig iron, steel, shipping, railway, and 
theatrical business became nerve-racking monotony, Hanna 
started a bank. He took the presidency of it, and devoured 
the minutiae, of the new business ravenously. When he was 
watching the wheels go around, looking at the levers and 



136 LEADERS OF MEN. 

cogs, and making the bank part of his life, he began to notice 
remarkable movements in the works. Some years the fly- 
wheel would not revolve. At some times it whirled too 
rapidly. He went through the machinery with hammer and 
screws, but he found that the trouble lay outside the bank. 
He traced it to iron ore, through that to coal, and still it eluded 
him. The trouble was outside the things he knew. It was in 
the lodestone of politics. So Hanna went into politics. 

With a modesty which is remarkable, he played an impor- 
tant part in the Garfield campaign of 1880 by cleverly bringing 
about a meeting between Garfield and Roscoe Conkling, who 
had been sulking in retirement because his plan to renomi- 
nate General Grant had failed. Nothing except the voting 
that ended the campaign was of more importance to the Re- 
publican party and its candidate than this meeting of the New 
York chieftain and the nominee of the party. During this 
campaign Senator Hanna actively interested himself, as a 
friend and admirer of the candidate, in national politics, but 
in what then seemed a small way. 

What he did was to organize the Business Men's League, 
beginning it in Cleveland, yet helping it to spread until its 
silent force of organized work and influential opinion, and its 
help in drawing campaign funds from men of large means, 
made it so powerful that the politicians who said that Hanna 
was "only a business man" came to lean upon it— without 
knowing that it was the offspring of this mere business 
man's brain. The general public paid no heed to this power- 
ful organization beyond applauding the great "parades" of 
merchants which became a feature of all subsequent cam- 
paigns. 

Thus we see with new interest the form and manner of the 
bow made by this hard-working, thrifty, friend-compelling 
descendant of traders and scion of old Quaker stock, when he 
entered the great arena of national politics. Being a practi- 
cal man and a business man, given to the clannish habits of 
the Scotch and Irish, and the smooth and shrewd methods of 
the Quakers, he carried all these forces into politics and began 
his work on business principles with a league of business men. 

In 1884 he went to the National Republican convention as a 
delegate pledged to support John Sherman. Four years later 
he went to the next convention as one of the managers of 



MARCUS ALONZO HANNA. 137 

Sherman's campaign. After each of these conventions he 
spent two months in campaign work. It was in 1894 that he 
began the gigantic work of preparing the country for McKin- 
ley's election in 189G. He had known William McKinley since 
the early seventies, and they became bound together by the 
two strongest ties — outside of blood relationship — which 
Senator Hanna reverences : those of friendship and those of 
a common enthusiasm for the protective policy. Mr. McKin- 
ley was first made a national figure for a mere half-hour by 
James G. Blaine, who, in 1876, feeling too tired to make a 
long speech in Philadelphia, reached out and drew Mr. Mc- 
Kinley forward, saying : " And now I want you to meet a 
young friend of mine from Ohio, who can speak to you from 
personal observation of the needs of labor and the righteous- 
ness of its protection." 

"The needs of labor and the righteousness of its protec- 
tion ! " Undoubtedly Mark Hanna will say that this sentence 
sums up the whole of his political creed. How remarkable 
that these words should have been used to introduce into na- 
tional politics the man whom Mark Hanna made president, 
and with whom he is so conspicuously coupled in the minds 
of his fellow-citizens ! He believes in protection as the first 
essential of American industrial success, coupling the work- 
man and the employer alike as beneficiaries of the principle. 
He says that George Washington was the first protectionist, 
with both sword and pen, and he quotes Lincoln as another. 
McKinley's adherence to the policy and his conspicuous work 
in connection with it, interested and won Hanna to the young 
Ohioan's side while McKinley was in Congress. And I do 
not doubt that when Senator Hanna says, as he does, that the 
demand for McKinley's election was in the general atmos- 
phere two years before he was nominated, he really means 
that in his opinion our commercial interests were endan- 
gered by the tendency of the times and of the opponents of 
Republican rule, that the business men of the country were 
beginning to feel insecure in the conditions which protection 
had developed, and that a candidate strongly identified with 
the protective policy was what was needed to restore secu- 
rity to capital and courage to investors and Operators. 

It was the business view of the business man, and he took 
up McKinley as a business man's candidate, confidently ap- 



138 LEADERS OF MEN. 

pealing to the business men in and out of the league which he 
had created. Senator Hanna speaks of his work as " an 
active part in crystallizing the demand for McKinley for 
president out of patriotism for the protection of the material 
or business interests of the country. I had large interests 
myself, and I was alarmed at what I saw of the growth of 
socialism, the tendency toward free trade, and the threatened 
adoption of fiat money." He denies that he "picked Mc- 
Kinley as the winner," to use a sporting phrase. The way in 
which he puts the case is that he had seen the demand for 
that candidate growing through three conventions. He " saw 
the great protectionist's popularity grow and grow and he saw 
the people turning toward him more and more." 

Having decided that this was to be the business man's 
candidate, he went to work to secure his nomination pre- 
cisely as a business man would do. The old-school politicians 
trusted to luck, to sentiment, to bungling on the part of the 
opposition, and to the use of what sums of money could be 
raised by distribution among generally irresponsible profes- 
sional politicians who kept no books, made no returns, and 
accounted for both defeat and victory by the same set phrase : 
"It was a tidal wave." Senator Hanna was as thorough as 
Samuel J. Tilden, but far outdid Tilden in the way of reduc- 
ing vote-getting to a science. He did keep books and he kept 
clerks and offices and applied so powerful a telescope to his 
uses that he studied every county as other managers used to 
study only states. 

He began work for McKinley by capturing the delegations 
from the Southern states, and then, with this strength as- 
sured, he went to work upon the nation at large. Mr. Frank 
G. Carpenter has written more intimately and informingly of 
this task than anyone else. He says : " Hanna is a good 
judge of men, and he picked out a force of organizers which 
needed only his general direction. 'He does not beheye-in^do- 
ing things he can get others to do. He managed the cam- 
paign as no campaign was ever managed before. The whole 
United States was divided up just as he divided up Ohio. He 
knew as much about any one of the counties of California or 
of Maine as he did about the different parts of northern Ohio. 
He not only knew individuals, but he knew public sentiment, 
and he spent vast sums to change it. His correspondence 



MARCUS ALONZO HANNA. 139 

was so enormous that for a time it was said that he spent as 
much as sixty thousand dollars a week for postage, and I have 
seen it stated that thirty millions of documents were sent out 
in one week by mail. The amount of money at his command 
is said to have been more than a million dollars. He skimped 
nothing. A letter was never sent where a telegram would 
bring the news more quickly and much of the business was 
done by special wires and long-distance telephones." 

It must be remembered that Senator Hanna was in touch 
with Mr. McKinley all through the campaign. A telephone 
connected them, and several times a week Senator Hanna 
went to the President's home in Canton, carrying with him 
whatever documents, notes, and newspaper articles he wished 
to discuss. When it is remembered that Mr. McKinley was 
declared to be the shrewdest and most skillful politician who 
was ever elected president, the value of his counsel to Senator 
Hanna became apparent. That is the material we possess for 
a study of Marcus A. Hanna's secret of success, both in poli- 
tics and business. Just as this country was reaching its arms 
oat to secure the world for its market, there appeared upon 
the scene the men that the hour imperatively demanded ; the 
advocate of protection, who was to be the business man's 
candidate, and, to be his manager, the great organizer and 
executive whom the other politicians called " merely a busi- 
ness man." He twice secured Mr. McKinley's election, but it 
was only the first campaign that required all his skill. His 
secret was that he was practical, shrewd, thorough, earnest, 
and a man who understood his fellow men. 

When the party's platform had been reported by the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions, at the St. Louis convention, and the 
clause indorsing the gold standard had been read, Senator 
Teller, of Colorado, made a speech favoring the adoption of a 
minority report of the Resolutions»Committee, which report 
eliminated the gold standard declaration. While Teller spoke, 
a pudgy man — broad-shouldered and of robust girth — sat 
fidgeting in his chair, but one row removed from the aisle, 
among the Ohio delegates. It was Hanna. The loose skin 
around his mouth twitched irritably as Tellers swan-song 
rose and fell. Occasionally he lifted a broad hand to a large, 
bumpy cranium, as if to scratch. Instead, he rubbed the rich, 
healthy, terra-cotta hide on his full, firm neck. His bright 



140 LEADERS OF MEN. 

brown eyes took the orator's mental and moral measure with 
merciless precision. When Teller sat down, Hanna grunted 
his relief. Others spoke in favor of the Teller resolution — 
perhaps an Idaho man, maybe a Montanian, from a chair 
behind the Ohio delegation. A dapper little chap, with a bou- 
tonniere on his perfectly fitting frock coat, came chassezing 
festively down the rostrum, and received Chairman Thurs- 
ton's recognition. 

" Who's that ? " asked Hanna of Grosvenor. 

" Cannon." 

"Who's Cannon ?" 

Mind you it was Hanna who was asking these questions — 
Hanna, who was popularly supposed to be omniscient and 
omnipotent at St. Louis that day. Yet here was a senator 
whom Hanna did not know, and whose presence on the speak- 
ers' list surprised the man who held the convention in the 
hollow of his hand. 

" Senator — Utah," replied Grosvenor. 

The festive man opened his mouth to read his address. 

' ' Well, for heaven's sake, goin' to read it ! Lookee there — " 
and Hanna's broad, fat hand waved towards the orator. 
"Perty, ain't he?" 

" Looks like a cigar drummer ! " 

The man on the rostrum continued. He made an acrid 
reference to the gold standard. 

"Well, d— n him!— how did he get in here?" snapped 
Hanna, and no one could answer. 

" A small-boned, fat leg flopped across its mate, and Hanna 
changed his weight from one hunker to the other. 

Cannon's remarks were growing more and more luminous. 
Hanna's brown eyes began to glow in heat lightning as the 
oration proceeded. His twitching mouth spilled its rage in 
grunts. The rhetoric of the Utah man was telling. He be- 
gan to threaten to leave the party. Finally he put the threat 
into a flamboyant period. Then Hanna's harsh voice blurted : — 

" Go, go ! " 

There was a tragic half-second's silence. Ten thousand 
eyes turned toward Hanna. Evidently he could feel their 
glances hailing on his back, for his flinty auburn head bobbed 
like a cork, and an instant later, when the whole convention 
was firing "go's" at the rostrum, Hanna rose proudly from 



MARCUS ALONZO HANNA. Hi 

the small of his back, and got on the firing line. After that 
the Utah man was in the hands of a mob. Hanna devoted 
himself to the pleasurable excitement of the chase. He 
stormed and roared with the mob ; he guyed and he cheered 
with the mob. He was of it, led by it, enjoying it, whooping 
it up. Then, when it was all over, when the gold-standard 
platform had been adopted, Hanna climbed into his chair, 
clasped his hands composedly behind him, threw back his 
head, let out his voice, and sang " America" with the throng. 
When he forgot the words, his dah-dah-de-dah-de-dums rang 
out with patriotic felicity, and his smile of seraphic satisfac- 
tion was a good sight for sore eyes. For Mark Hanna was 
giving an excellent representation of a joyous American citi- 
zen, with his wagon hitched to a bucking star, jogging peace- 
fully down the milky way of victory. 

By this token may the gentle reader know that Hanna is 
intensely human. There is nothing godlike, nothing de- 
moniac, nothing cherubic, nothing serpentine about him. He 
is a plain man, who stands in the last ditch with his friends, 
and fights his enemies to the death. He enjoys a good joke, 
a good fellow, or a good dinner ; and, if possible, likes all 
three served at the same table. Often he wins brilliantly, 
sometimes loses conspicuously, makes a fool of himself occa- 
sionally, laughs at it good-naturedly, and does it over again, 
" even as you and I.'" He has on his bones the clay of unex- 
plainable old Adam — rich in weakness and strength, graces 
and foibles, and withal he has the philosophy which sustained 
the shepherd of Arden. So his strength is more than his 
weakness, for he has the virility of common sense. He is not 
happy crocheting tidies and adopting ringing resolutions. He 
is a man of deeds rather than of explanations. 

Hanna is not a boss. The boss in the American political 
system supplies a human need which the king supplies in 
other principalities and powers. The people of this Eepublic 
expect their boss to rob them, to snub them, to revile them, 
just as royal subjects expect dishonor and contumely from 
their king. The parallel runs further ; neither a boss nor a 
king is elected, and it would be as difficult to explain to a 
republican the divine right of kings as to make a monarchist 
comprehend the reasons for the domination of the boss. The 
boss exists outside the actual government of the state ; the 



142 LEADERS OF MEN. 

king is generally extraneous. " The sovereign," says Walter 
Bagehot, "has under a constitutional monarchy the three 
rights, the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and 
the right to warn." Add to this the right to steal, and behold 
the boss ! Elsewhere, speaking of the monarchy, Bagehot has 
said : " It is often said that people are ruled by their imagina- 
tion ; but it would be truer to say they are governed by the 
weakness of their imagination. The nature of a constitu- 
tion, the action of an assembly, the play of parties, the un- 
seen formation of a guiding opinion, are complex facts, 
difficult to know and easy to mistake. But the action of a 
single will, the fiat of a single mind, are easy ideas ; anybody 
can make them out, and no one can ever forget them." 
Hence the office of king and hence the rise of the boss. Now 
every boss is the founder of his own dynasty, which ends 
with him ; and he rises as the founders of all dynasties rise, 
through much intrigue, great diplomacy, resistless ambition, 
unscrupulous daring, and ceaseless, unremitting, pertinacious 
energy directed to one object for a long term of years. No 
king or no boss ever carried his profession as a side line, and 
this paragraph is written to show that, as the word " boss " is 
used and accepted in the bright lexicon of politics to-day, 
Hanna cannot be a boss. First, because a national boss is as 
impossible to the American people as a national monarch ; 
secondly, Hanna has too well developed a sense of humor to 
be a boss if he would be. As for the first proposition, a weak 
popular imagination presumes a weak, popular intelligence ; 
and as a nation, the people of this country have more intel- 
ligence than is the popular average of intelligence in the 
boss-ridden cities and states. And as for the second proposi- 
tion, no living man with a twinkle in his eye and a smile 
teetering on the threshold of his countenance can view with 
composure the deadly implacable hunger for a little brief 
authority which often moves men to sell their souls for it. 
This hunger is the mainspring which makes the boss a joss. 
In politics, he who laughs at the visceral convolutions of the 
joss is lost. Hanna has to laugh at these things. It is his 
"nature to" ; and when he cannot laugh he swears, which 
brings relief to the soul much as laughter does. 

As an orator, Mr. Hanna was, to use the expression of a 
Cleveland banker, " a surprise party." 



MARCUS ALONZO HANNA. 143 

They had known him as a keen, clear-headed business 
man, terse of speech, quick of decision, vigorous and aggres- 
sive in all his dealings. 

They had not realized that there was in him a strain of 
Irish eloquence, inherited from no one knows what rebellious 
agitator of the Emerald Isle ; for Hanna's ancestry, like 
McKinley's, was of Scotch and Irish blood, and dwelt amid 
the green hills of County Antrim, from which have come 
to America's shores so many elements of strong and noble 
character. 

His eloquence is not of the schools. It lacks the artificial 
graces of a studied style and practiced gesture. But it has 
the force and vigor of a manly character behind it ; a direct- 
ness like that of Antony, persuasive by its very honesty, 
compelling assent by virtue of that mystic force which we 
call personal magnetism. It has wit and a homely wisdom in 
it ; the wisdom of a large experience in the matters of which 
he speaks. 

If he knows little about a particular subject he is as mute as 
the Egyptian sphinx. Dynamite would not blast an opinion 
out of him. But what he knows, of that he will speak. 

He is not satisfied to know a little about a subject. He 
must dig under it, look over it, surround it, and take it cap- 
tive, before he will venture to discuss it. 

This is the same quality that made him succeed in business 
as a young man. When he went into the grocery store of 
Hanna, Garrettson & Company, in the early days of Cleve- 
land, he made up his mind to know all about groceries. He 
built up a large trade with the vessels plying between the 
Lake Superior mines and the port of Cleveland, and soon 
became a partner in the firm. 

Those who have met Mr. Hanna in business or political 
councils feel and acknowledge a power in him to sway the 
minds of other men, which is quite beyond the influence of 
mere words. When he feels that he is right, you might as 
well pepper the Rock of Gibraltar with pebbles as assail him 
with arguments of mere expediency. 

He will not retreat, he will not compromise. He stands 
like Fate, proof against all prayers and tears. 

This adamantine character has won him many a victory. 
Men weary of battering against that wall of rock. And yet, 



144 LEADERS OF MEN. 

having gained a victory, he is generous toward his conquered 
enemy. His head is hard, but his heart is tender. He can 
strike with mailed hand, and strong men hesitate to invite 
his blow ; but he can also caress like a child. 

To his friends and companions in private life there seems 
to be nothing very remarkable about Senator Marcus Alonzo 
Hanna. They say that he is just a hearty, kindly, good man ; 
very simple in his tastes, unpretentious in his manners, ear- 
nest and strong in his beliefs and principles, and remarkable 
among men in general only for his loyalty to his friends. 

A sympathetic nature, a warm heart, a working arm, a 
kinship with the toiling masses and a shrewd and practical 
mind are the principal elements of his strength. 

Mr. Hanna is no snob, no aristocrat, in the ordinary sense 
of the word ; but he is a man who can read character by its 
natural signs, and who recognizes no other passport to his 
favor. 

When you have been introduced to him, if you are a 
stranger, he calmly waits the statement of your business. 
He has no time for mere words. What you would say, you 
must say briefly, concisely. 

He looks you through and through with his keen, dark 
eyes. They are searchlights, from which no secret can be 
hidden. If you are dissembling, you will not deceive those 
eyes. Whatever your words may say, those eyes will detect 
the lie in your mind. 

It is said that one of the principal elements in the success 
of Napoleon was his ability to estimate the character of his 
associates. In the business and political world, this faculty 
is quite as important as in the military, and Mr. Hanna pos- 
sesses it to a remarkable degree. 

When you have stated your business, Mr. Hanna will 
probably ask you a few quiet questions. You will perceive 
that he does not waste words upon superficial matters, but 
each question goes to the bottom of the business. Practical 
above all things, he seeks always for some guarantee of suc- 
cess. It is not a question whether the plan be a good one, — 
but, will it work in practice ? If it will not, Mr. Hanna will 
have none of it. 

As he sits quietly at his desk, with a certain massive dig- 
nity and poise, you feel that you are in the presence of a man 



MARCUS ALONZO HANNA. 145 

of power. He is not a mere figurehead. He is the man who 
does things,— large, masculine, with a certain quiet command 
in tone and gesture which indicates the natural leader of men. 

His mind acts quickly, but powerfully, upon whatever 
question comes before him. He has the Napoleonic grasp of 
details, and his self-reliance is born of the consciousness of his 
own power. 

In his business councils he is what Grant was in his coun- 
cils of war. He sits quietly listening to the various remarks, 
reserving his own. When all others have spoken, he gives 
his opinion, in a few quiet words ; and his business associates 
assert that he is almost invariably correct. 

As you talk with him, his secretary enters with a dozen 
letters, and presents them for Mr. Hanna's reply or signature. 
Turning to his desk, he with a few strokes of the pen disposes 
of questions involving perhaps thousands of dollars, and the 
destinies of hundreds of men. He turns the searching power 
of his strong mind upon each letter, and you can catch per- 
haps a few words of his instructions to the secretary, — "Tell 
Mr. Cortelyou," or, "write the Senator that,'" etc. 

Having disposed of these matters, he turns to you again, 
and without the loss of a single thread of your discourse, re- 
sumes the consideration of your business. 

You are inevitably impressed with his immense power of 
application and concentration of mind. Quietly, with no 
display of effort, as an ocean liner turns in the harbor, his 
strong intellect applies itself to each matter, weighs each 
statement and each argument, and renders its decision in a 
few well-chosen words. 

Here is a type of intellect which has not yet been included 
in the world's category of genius ; the type of the successful 
business man. 

But why should it not be so included ? Are the classic 
languages and the higher mathematics the only worthy field 
for the exercise of intellectual powers ? 

Must a man devote the powers of his intellect to problems 
of physical science, or to abstract questions of law and ethics, 
in order to be recognized as a man of culture ? 

In the complex affairs of the modern industrial world are 
problems quite as worthy of intellectual power as are the 
more classic problems of purely professional life. 



146 LEADERS OF MEN. 

When you have in a -brief interview concluded your busi- 
ness with Mr. Hanna, you retire, to pass, perhaps, in the cor- 
ridor, a senator or two who have called to pay their respects, 
or a half-dozen coal or street car magnates, who have come 
to discuss with Mr. Hanna some business project. How this 
man can manage so many various affairs, commercial and 
political, and manage them all so successfully, is a mystery 
to those who do not appreciate the immense native strength 
of his intellect, cultivated by many years of application to 
complex and weighty problems. 

He has now undertaken to bring capital and labor together 
upon friendly and fraternal terms, and to organize their forces 
so that they shall settle their own differences by arbitration. 
He calls this the great aim of his life, and he began to work 
upon his plan before the last nomination of Mr. McKinley. 
He views this in all probability as he did his project of bring- 
ing together the iron ore and the coal with which it is smelted, 
a consummation with which he is credited with having been 
among the first to promote. As that tended toward the eco- 
nomical making of iron and steel, so, he says, the absence of 
friction between labor and capital will benefit both parties to 
the alliance and work material good to the nation. He is just 
so sensible, shrewd, and practical in all things, and in these 
words and the phrase "loyalty to his friends," you sum up 
the character of the Ohio senator. 

INDUSTRY. 

REVER waste anything, but, above all, never waste time. 
To-day comes but once and never returns. Time is 
one of Heaven's richest gifts ; and once lost is irre- 
coverable. 

" Not Heaven itself upon the past has power, 
For what has been, has been ; and I have had my hour." 

Do not spend your time so, now, that you will reproach 
yourself hereafter. There are no sadder thoughts than " Too 
late," and "It might have been." Time is a trust, and for 
every minute of it you will have to account. Be " spare of 
sleep, spare of diet, and sparest of time." 

When generals and statesmen tilled the soil of Italy, and 



INDUSTRY. 149 

labor was considered honorable by the magistrates of the 
land, the Roman empire nourished. But the introduction of 
slaves wrought a great change in public opinion. Labor 
became discreditable to those who could live without it, and 
indolence and ease usurped the place of industry. The ruling 
classes gave themselves up to pleasure and luxury ; and soon 
corruption, in high places and low, sapped the foundation of 
the empire, and it fell. 

Industry is a virtue ; and it is the duty of all to practice it. 
Believing this, Sir Walter Scott wrote to his son Charles : "I 
cannot too much impress upon your mind that labor is the 
condition which God has imposed on us in every station in 
life ; there 's nothing worth having that can be had without it, 
from the bread which the peasant wins with the sweat of his 
brow, to the sports by which the rich man must get rid of his 
ennui. As for knowledge, it can no more be planted in the 
human mind without labor, than a field of wheat can be pro- 
duced without the previous use of the plow. Labor, there- 
fore, my dear boy, and improve the time. In youth, our steps 
are light, and our minds are ductile, and knowledge is easily 
laid up ; but if we neglect our spring, our summer will be use- 
less and contemptible, our harvest will be chaff, and our win- 
ter of old age unrespected and desolate." 

Scott, himself, was a remarkable example of industry. 
Sometimes his health was impaired by his great labors. At 
one time the physician besought him to abridge his literary 
work, to which the inveterate worker replied : — 

" As for bidding me not to work, Molly might just as well 
put the kettle on the fire and say, 'Now, kettle, don't boil.'" 

At fifty-five years of age he became heavily involved 
through the failure of his publishers, with whom he was con- 
nected as silent partner. His indebtedness amounted to the 
enormous sum of six hundred thousand dollars. Men of ordi- 
nary courage and industry would have sunk down in utter 
despair under such a pecuniary burden ; but Scott had bound- 
less faith in the achievements of persistent industry, and he 
resolved that the last dollar should be paid by the product of 
his pen. Summoning all the faculties of soul and body to the 
task, he set himself to work with more earnestness and deter- 
mination than ever. Volume after volume rolled from his 
pen, as if it were as easy for him to write books as it was for 



150 LEADERS OF MEN. 

sugar to be sweet, each one illustrating more and more the 
greatness of the man, and each one greeted with increasing 
delight by the reading public. Year after year he performed 
these prodigious labors, inspired by the thought of being able 
to liquidate the mammoth debt, and thereby vindicate his 
honor. His purpose was accomplished. The last dollar of 
his indebtedness was paid, and he was satisfied, though his 
physical constitution was seriously impaired by the excessive 
toil. He died, in consequence, a martyr to his uprightness 
and sense of honor. The patriot who dies for his country, or 
the Christian who dies for the truth, is not more of a martyr 
to his convictions than he. 

The most industrious habits in secular pursuits do not 
interfere with intellectual culture, as a multitude of facts 
prove. Spenser was secretary to the lord deputy of Ireland ; 
Bacon was a hard-working lawyer ; Milton was secretary to 
the commonwealth ; Locke was secretary to the board of 
trade under Charles II., and afterward, under William III., 
was commissioner of appeals and of trade, and of plantations ; 
Addison was secretary of state ; Steele was commissioner of 
stamps, and Cowley " held various offices of trust and confi- 
dence " in the reign of Charles I*. The labor and drudgery of 
business did not unfit them for the best literary work. Rather, 
it stimulated them to nobler efforts in literary life. 

In Italy, nearly every distinguished man of letters, in the 
time of Dante, was a hard-working merchant, physician, 
statesman, diplomatist, judge, or soldier. Villani was a mer- 
chant ; Dante was in the public service, after he was chemist 
and druggist ; Galileo was a physician ; Petrarch was an am- 
bassador, and Goldoni a lawyer. 

In Great Britain, Isaac Walton was a linen-draper ; DeFoe 
a shopkeeper ; Isaac Taylor an engraver of patterns for Man- 
chester calico printers ; John Stuart Mill was " principal 
examiner in the East India House," where Charles Lamb and 
Edwin Morris were clerks ; Macaulay was secretary of war 
when he wrote his " Lays of Ancient Rome" ; Sir Henry Tay- 
lor, Anthony Trollope, and Matthew Arnold were all holding 
important public offices when their most popular literary 
works appeared. 

In our own land it is equally true that hard toil in secular 
life has contributed largely to literary and public distinction. 



INDUSTRY. 151 

If we cannot say, with Louis XIV., " It is by toil that kings 
govern," we can say, truthfully, that our country has been 
governed and molded by self-made men, who have risen 
from the ranks of the industrious in humble pursuits by their 
own brave and self-denying efforts. The names of Washing- 
ton, Jackson, Clay, Roger Sherman, Lawrence, Jay, Lincoln, 
Garfield, Grant, and a host of others, are familiar as belong- 
ing to this class, whose memory posterity will not willingly 
let die. Their industry in early life seemed to command every 
faculty, sharpening them for greater and better service, until 
they were as well qualified to rule the nation as to run a shop 
or farm. 

The biographer of Samuel Budgett says : " He seemed born 
under a decree to do. Doing, doing, ever doing ; his nature 
seemed to abhor idleness more than the natures of the old 
philosophers a vacuum. An idle moment was an irksome 
moment ; an idle hour would have been a sort of purgatory. 
No sooner was one engagement out of his hand, than his 
instinct within him seemed to cry out, 'Now, what is the next 
thing ? ' Among such memoranda as escaped destruction by 
his hand, one note tells of a ' joyless and uncomfortable Sab- 
bath ; and no wonder, for I did not rise until half -past five 
o'clock.' When this man died it was said, 'No death in 
England, but that of the Queen herself, would have touched 
hearts so tenderly.' A stranger at his funeral, remarked to a 
man by his side, ' This is a remarkable funeral.' ' 

"Yes," the man addressed answered, "such a one as we 
never had in Kingwood before. Ah, sir, a great man has 
fallen." 

"No doubt he was an important man in this neighbor- 
hood," responded the stranger. 

" In this neighborhood ! " exclaimed the man ; " there was 
not his equal in all England. No tongue can tell all that man 
did." 

The connection between his industry and success was clear 
as day. 

"If any man will not work, neither shall he eat." God's 
decree is, Work or starve. " The hand of the diligent maketh 
rich." Industry is the source of all the wealth of our nation, 
and of all nations. Idleness never maketh rich, physically 
or morally, but industry creates both material and moral 
wealth, the latter being best of all. 



152 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Horace Mann said : " Let the young man remember there 
is nothing derogatory in any employment which ministers to 
the well-being of the race. It is the spirit that is carried into 
an employment that elevates or degrades it. The ploughman 
that turns the clod may be a Cincinnatus or a Washington, or 
he may be brother to the clod he turns. It is every way 
creditable to handle the yardstick and to measure tape ; the 
only discredit consists in having a soul whose range of 
thought is as short as the stick and as narrow as the tape."' 

Who shall stand before kings ? " Seest thou a man dili- 
gent in his business ? he shall stand before kings ; he shall not 
stand before mean men." The kind of diligence spoken of in 
these words embraces much more than the superficial reader 
supposes. To be diligent in one's business as above enlists all 
the powers. All that is good in a man is brought to the front. 
He must be sincere, earnest, honest, persevering, self-reliant, 
industrious, enterprising, and courageous, if he would be 
" diligent in business." Even more than this will appear ; 
for the whole triumphal train of virtues that assure honorable 
success will file into the grand march to the king's throne. 
They are all necessary to pursue a noble purpose and make it 
great and successful enough for kings to honor. For the 
man does not " stand before kings," cringing like a slave or 
crawling like a beggar ; he stands there every inch a man, 
dignified in his consciousness of having won, with a life 
record he is willing that royalty itself should scan ; not the 
royalty that flourishes in robe and crown, but the royalty of 
goodness and truth. " He shall not stand before mean men." 
A king may be mean ; there have been such. He will not 
stand before a monarch who -is "mean." No ! The " kings" 
that he will stand before are the great, good ones of the 
earth, who have been true to themselves and God. He may 
be their equal, and the bearing of his royal life will command 
their respect. 

Prove the foregoing by a fact. The late Hon. William E. 
Dodge had poor but Christian parents. He was obliged to 
work when he was a mere boy. He had no idle moments, 
and scarcely any leisure moments even in boyhood. Poor 
schools offered their small advantages only a few weeks in a 
year, and out of school he was expected to be "diligent in 
business." Industry being a law of the family, he was early 



INDUSTRY. 153 

trained to industrious habits, so that when he took up his 
residence in New York city, an inexperienced youth, he was 
well equipped for work. It was immaterial to him how early 
his day's work began, or how late it closed, if so be that his 
employer's interests were faithfully served. The work he 
had in hand engaged his attention as if it were his own. 
There was not the slightest disposition in him to avoid labor 
or responsibility. He had no fear or dread of these, he rather 
sought them. As a consequence, he won the confidence of his 
employer at once, and that of all other men around him. His 
industry marshaled a fine array of attributes : uprightness, 
courtesy, perseverance, singleness of purpose, loftiness of 
aim, thoroughness, tact, energy, decision of character, self- 
reliance, courage, and purity of life, — a combination of traits 
well suited to find or make a way to success. 

Two temptations of a great city he especially tried to 
escape : the intoxicating cup and Sabbath-breaking. Treat- 
ing was common, but no one had an opportunity to treat him ; 
Sabbath-breaking was contagious, but he did not take the 
evil. Always in the public place of worship on Sunday, 
" diligent in his business " six days in the week, his evenings 
devoted to reading, study, literary and religious lectures, 
— this was the routine which he followed month after month 
and year after year. His employer would have intrusted his 
whole property to his care had it been necessary ; and so 
would any other merchant who knew him. The lures of the 
metropolis that had carried thousands of youth down to ruin, 
made no impression upon him. He paid no attention to them, 
and pursued the even tenor of his way, as if temptations 
were not. "Everyman is tempted when he is drawn away 
of his own lust and enticed." 

His advance upward was rapid. Within a few years he 
was doing business for himself. His character was his capi- 
tal — better capital than money. " When poverty is your in- 
heritance, virtue must be your capital." There was no limit 
to his credit, for his capital was moral. Money is not a 
guarantee against duplicity, cheating, or overreaching ; but 
character is. "A good name is rather to be chosen than great 
riches." It is as true in a warehouse as it is in the chapel or 
church. When Dexter Smith, author of " Put me in my Little 
Bed," was a youth, he overheard an influential man say, "If 



154 LEADERS OF MEN. 

I could live my life over again, there are some things I would 
not do." "And what are they ?" inquired a friend. "I would 
not use intoxicating drinks ; I would not smoke, chew, swear, 
lie, or gamble ; I would not visit billiard halls and bar rooms ; 
and I would not keep bad company." Young Smith went 
away saying, " That man knows ; he speaks from experi- 
ence ; I will avoid these things ! " and he did. 

Young Dodge did the same, and prospered. He was get- 
ting ready to meet kings. "Wealth began to accumulate ; 
his business grew ; friends multiplied. Though his time was 
now his own he had none to waste. Even his recreation was 
found in philanthropic and benevolent deeds. Down into the 
slums of the city he went and rescued many a boy. He was 
a pillar in his church. He became an animating spirit in 
home, foreign, and other missionary societies. " City Mis- 
sions," " Freedmen's Aid Societies," "Jerry McAuley's Mis- 
sion," the " Female College at Beyroot," and a score of other 
organizations to bless the world, shared his counsels, labors, 
and munificent benefactions. Some years he gave away one 
thousand dollars a day. That was getting pretty near a 
throne. He "never lost the prayers of the poor." 

He became a wise counselor, sought after by leading men 
in great enterprises, — banks, insurance companies, temper- 
ance and anti-slavery societies, railroad corporations, colleges, 
theological seminaries, and other institutions watched over 
by the wise and learned of the age. His counsel was sought 
at Washington in the dark hour of his country's peril. There 
he stood " before kings," the greatest and best statesman of 
the land. His name and fame crossed the Atlantic, and the 
high and low in the mother country desired to see him and 
hear him speak. He went thither. He was invited to address 
many public bodies where learned professors and renowned 
statesmen gave him the warmest welcome. He dined with 
Gladstone, Lord Shaftesbury, and other representatives of 
England's noble queen. There he stood literally "before 
kings." The divine promise was fulfilled, " Seest thou a man 
diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings ; he shall 
not stand before mean men." 

Dr. Franklin said in his autobiography, that his father 
gave him line upon line in regard to the virtue of industry in 
his boyhood, enforcing his lessons by repeating the text, 



INDUSTRY. 155 

" Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? he shall stand be- 
fore kings ; he shall not stand before mean men."' In his last 
days, Dr. Franklin honored the wisdom of his father by say- 
ing, " I have stood before five kings and dined with two." 

The story of genius even, so far as it can be told at all, is 
the story of persistent industry in the face of obstacles, and 
some of the standard geniuses give us their word for it that 
genius is little more than industry. A woman like " George 
Eliot"' laughs at the idea of writing her novels by inspiration. 
"Genius," President Dwight used to tell the boys at Yale, 
"is the power of making efforts." 

Begging is after all harder than working, and, taking it 
altogether, does not pay so well. Every man, however, 
should stand upon his own feet. "A ploughman on his feet," 
says Franklin, "is higher than a gentleman on his knees." 

Milton was not merely a man of genius, but of indomitable 
industry. He thus describes his own habits: "In winter, 
often ere the sound of any bell wakes man to labor or devo- 
tion ; in summer, as oft with the bird that first rouses, or not 
much tardier, to read good authors, or to cause them to be 
read till the attention be ready, or memory have, its full 
freight ; then, with clear and generous labor, preserving the 
body's health and hardiness, to render lightsome, clear, and 
not lumpish obedience to the mind, to the cause of religion, 
and our country's liberty." 

Do not look on your work as a dull duty. If you choose 
you can make it interesting. Throw your heart into it, master 
its meaning, trace out the causes and previous history, con- 
sider it in all its bearings, think how many, even the hum- 
blest, labor may benefit, and there is scarcely one of your 
duties which you may not look to with enthusiasm. You will 
get to love your work, and if you do it with delight you will 
do it with ease. Even if you find this at first impossible, if 
for a time it seems mere drudgery, this may be just what you 
require ; it may be good, like mountain air, to brace up your 
character. . Our Scandinavian ancestors worshiped Thor, 
wielding his hammer ; and in the old Norse myth Voland is 
said to have sold his soul to the devil, in order to be the best 
smith in the world ; which, however, is going too far. 

It is a great question how much time should be given to 
sleep. Nature must decide. Some people require much more 



156 LEADERS OF MEN. 

than others. I do not think it possible to diminish the amount 
which Nature demands. Nor can time spent in real sleep 
be said to be wasted. It is a wonderful restorer of nervous 
energy, of which those who live in cities never have enough. 
Sir E. Cooke's division of the day was — 

" Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six, 
Four spent in prayer — the rest on Nature fix." 

Sir W. Jones amended this into — 

" Six hours to law, to soothing slumbers seven, 
Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven." 

Neither six nor seven hours would be enough for me. We 
must sleep till we are so far refreshed as to wake up, and not 
down. 

In times of sorrow, occupation, which diverts our thoughts, 
is often a great comfort. Indeed, many of us torment our- 
selves in hours of leisure with idle fears and unnecessary 
anxieties. Keep yourselves always occupied. 

" So shalt thou find in work and thought 
The peace that sorrow cannot give." 

" Every place," says old Lilly, " is a country to a wise man, 
and all parts a palace to a quiet mind." 

Work, moreover, with, and not against Nature. Do not 
row against the stream if you can help it ; but if you must, 
you must. Do not then shrink from it ; but Nature will gener- 
ally work for us if we will only let her. 

" For as in that which is above Nature, so in Nature itself : 
he that breaks one physical law is guilty of all. The whole 
universe, as it were, takes up arms against him, and all 
Nature, with her numberless and unseen powers, is ready to 
avenge herself upon him, and on his children after him, he 
knows not when nor where. He, on the other hand, who 
obeys the law of Nature with his whole heart and mind, will 
find all things working together to him for good. He is at 
peace with the physical universe. He is helped and be- 
friended alike by the sun above his head and the dust beneath 
his feet : because he is obeying the will and mind of Him who 
made sun, and dust, and all things ; and who has given them 
a law that cannot be broken." 



CHAPTER VII. 

CHARLES EMORY SMITH. 

HOW SUCCESSES ARE ACHIEVED INCIDENTS OK HIS LIFE COMPARED 

WITH THOSE OF THE LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BIRTHPLACE, PAR- 
ENTAGE, AND EDUCATION — CHOICE OF VOCATION EARLY NEWSPAPER 

EXPERIENCE CAREER AT UNION COLLEGE HIS PART IN THE CAMPAIGN 

OF 1860 BECOMES EDITOR OF THE ALBANY EXPRESS MEETING WITH 

HORACE GREELEY EDITOR OF THE PHILADELPHIA PRESS MADE MIN- 
ISTER TO RUSSIA CAMPAIGNS WITH McKINLEY HIS APPOINTMENT AS 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS — A FORCEFUL AND 

ELOQUENT PUBLIC SPEAKER TO WHAT HE ATTRIBUTES HIS SUCCESS. 

CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION. 



Among the personal elements of success I would give 
special prominence to the qualities of concentration, perse- 
verance, and practical knack. Decide what 
you will do, stick to it, and be tactful in 
doing it. Don't scatter, don't waver, and 
don't bungle. Many men of ability fritter 
away their strength by undertaking too 
many things. Choose the work for which 
you seem adapted, put your force in it and 
do it faithfully and thoroughly. It goes 
without saying, that, other things being 
equal, the more the ability the greater the 
success, but ability alone will achieve little 
without well-directed, persistent, and judicious application. 

Large successes are attained by the union of opportunity 
and capacity. What is estimated as great success is some- 
times accidental. But generally success comes because of 
tenacious effort directed by a clear head, and the clearer the 
head and the stronger the effort, the larger the success. 





158 LEADERS OF MEN. 

J.N several particulars the lives of Benjamin Franklin, the 
X first postmaster-general, and of Charles Emory Smith, 
T the late head of our great postal service, singularly coin- 
cide. Franklin, though born in Massachusetts, went in early 
manhood to Philadelphia, and there the active, useful' years 
of his life were spent ; Charles Emory Smith, though born in 
Connecticut, spent his youth and early manhood in Albany, 
New York, but at the age of thirty-eight became a resident of 
Philadelphia, and there has lived the years of his prime. 
Franklin was a true patriot during the momentous epoch 
which witnessed the war for independence, and aided by wise 
counsel and forceful pen in the achievement of that end ; 
Charles Emory Smith, during the still more stupendous strug- 
gle to preserve the Union which Franklin helped to form, 
rendered loyal and effective service under the leadership of 
Lincoln. The task of Franklin as postmaster-general was a 
hard one, involving the extension of a postal system to por- 
tions of our land almost unexplored ; that of Charles Emory 
Smith has been more difficult, involving not only the perfect- 
ing of our vast domestic postal system, but also the establish- 
ing of similar facilities in islands thousands of miles from our 
shores. Franklin, great in many fields, was a student, a 
thinker, an editor, a diplomat ; it is perhaps not too much to 
say that the career of Charles Emory Smith has run on some- 
thing of the same lines, and he has, besides, been a member 
of the Cabinet, and the valued adviser of a president. 

Upon a closer examination, therefore, the career of Charles 
Emory Smith, if only because of its similarity to that of 
another great American, should prove an interesting and 
instructive one to the young men of to-day. He was born on 
a farm near Mansfield, Connecticut, on February 18, 1842, 
his parents being Emory Boutelle and Arvilla Royce Smith. 
Seven years afterward his parents removed to Albany, New 
York, where his grandfather was engaged in manufacturing. 
The schooling, which had been interrupted by the removal, 
was at once resumed, and it was not long before young 
Charles was placed in the Albany Academy. Almost from 
the time that he began to read and to think of his future, he 
had made up his mind that he would be either a journalist or 
a lawyer, and achieve the right to have his name numbered 



CHARLES EMORY S3IITH. 159 

among- those of public men. Shortly after his removal to 
Albany the first indication of his decided bent came ; he had 
not been at the Albany Academy long before he started his 
first newspaper, the Academy Record, one copy making up an 
edition, all written out by hand, but made up as far as possible 
like the printed newspapers of the day. It was then that he 
decided that journalism was his goal ; the law was no longer 
considered. But when he tried to find out what he should do 
to fit himself for the career he had chosen, he groped in the 
dark ; journalism was not then a profession, nor had the inti- 
mate relations of to-day been established between journalism 
and statesmanship. He decided to take Horace Greeley as his 
model ; to his mind the most forceful editor the country ever 
had. He launched into the study of the politics of the city of 
Albany, — which, as the capital of the Empire State, is always 
a storm center, — and found it an exceedingly congenial and 
interesting diversion. 

The excitement of the Fremont campaign of 1856 appealed 
as strongly to young Smith as to most of the actual electors. 
A boy of fourteen, with his lessons to prepare, he attended all 
the meetings, listened to all the speeches, and took part in the 
parades. The Republican organization formed to support Fre- 
mont was full of the vitality of youth, fervid with the solem- 
nity of conviction. It voiced the growing antislavery senti- 
ment, which was strong in the country. The feeling of 
national unrest, the presentiment of national disaster, in- 
flamed the imagination even of the schoolboy. This party, 
which seemed to be founded on righteousness and justice, 
which had sprung from the ruins of the old Whig party and 
now appealed to the conscience of the country, was the politi- 
cal organization with which he desired, above all things, to be 
connected. Its orators became his instructors, its principles 
as announced on the stump were so many text-books to him. 
Politics was a part of his education. Thus it was that when 
he had finished his academy course, in 1858, he was able to 
offer to the Albany Transcript, edited by one of his former 
teachers, editorials which the editor liked well enough to 
warrant his engaging the youthful contributor to continue 
them. This in itself is an evidence of the merit of his compo- 
sitions, as it was extremely unusual, even in those days of the 
infancy of the profession of journalism, for an outsider thus 



]G0 LEADERS OF MEN. 

to elevate himself at once into the sanctum without having 
climbed the lower rungs of the ladder. The young editor had 
a year of this work, which was also a year of the study and 
practice of politics, and then he entered Union College at 
Schenectady. 

The war fever was already in the air. Young Smith went 
into the presidential campaign of 1860, and stumped the coun- 
ties adjacent to the college, acquiring a marked taste for 
political speaking, unmarred by the stage fright of most 
untried orators. He has said that in more recent years he 
has experienced time and again a feeling of apprehension or 
hesitation when rising to speak on some theme of grave 
import. That this feeling was not experienced in 1860 was 
probably due to the deep personal interest which he took in 
the canvass. In all the neighboring parades and proces- 
sions of that eventful time, when the Wide-Awakes began 
to cut a figure in the public eye, the college campaign club, of 
which he was captain, took an active part. 

The president of the college, Dr. Nott, was an old gentle- 
man of a fatherly disposition and unsettled politics. He 
wanted Seward nominated, as one of his boys, and hardly 
forgave Lincoln for defeating Seward, and on the whole 
favored Douglas's election. Young Smith, as editor of the col- 
lege magazine and captain of the Wide-Awakes, was com- 
pelled to work harder than he ever had before. At half-past 
two his alarm clock waked him daily, and he studied till 
breakfast. Then recitations and compositions went on all 
day. In the evening he drilled the Wide-Awakes from after 
supper until late at night, affording him exercise to compen- 
sate for his early rising and giving him good health. Dr. 
Nott resolved to break up the college Wide-Awakes, and sent 
for Captain Smith, and said it could not be allowed. The 
captain protested that it was a proper purpose of young men 
soon to become citizens. But the doctor tried again, and said 
they must leave the college ; when he was told that sixty 
of the young men would . leave together, the old gentleman 
dropped the matter. When Lincoln was elected, young Smith 
entered the president's class-room with a newspaper, and the 
latter inquired what paper it was. "A New York daily, sir," 
the young man replied, ''with the glorious news of the elec- 
tion of Abraham Lincoln ! " It was wormwood to the aged 
president ! 






CHARLES EMORY SMITH. 161 

Just after leaving Union College, from which institution 
he graduated in 1861, young Smith conceived the idea that he 
would like to enter the service of the government in one of 
the departments at Washington. He saw nothing better in 
prospect just then, and he could not ask his father for assist- 
ance, having promised that if his father would send him to 
college he would never ask for further aid from that source. 
His pride, therefore, forbade his going to his father for help ; 
so, after making up his mind, he sought the aid of Mr. George 
Dawson, the editor of the Albany Journal. Mr. Dawson, after 
hearing him through, flatly told him that he would not recom- 
mend him for government employment, and, moreover, would 
oppose his appointment, as he considered him destined for 
higher things than a government clerkship. This ended his 
ambition in that direction, and it is an interesting circum- 
stance that within a few years he became the partner of, and 
joint editor with, Mr. Dawson. Subsequently, when offered 
the nomination for Congress, or to other offices, he consist- 
ently declined, preferring to devote his undivided attention 
to his chosen work. 

Although active for the next two years as an aide on the 
staff of General Rathbone, under War-Governor Morgan, in 
raising and organizing volunteer regiments, he also found 
considerable time during the next three or four years to de- 
vote to political study, organization, and activity. By 1864 he 
had become familiar with open-air campaign speaking. Dur- 
ing leisure moments he continued his study of general history, 
American history, and economics, as well as his contributions 
to newspapers. In 1865, at the age of twenty-three, he was 
offered the editorship of the Albany Express, which he ac- 
cepted, and soon acquired an interest in the paper. The 
Transcript, on which he had begun his journalistic career, 
had been purchased by the owners of the Express and merged 
into it. He also was for a time a member of the faculty of 
the Albany Academy. 

While editing the Albany Express he was introduced to 
Horace Greeley. It was soon after Greeley had gone on Jef- 
ferson Davis's bail-bond, and had provoked from all over the 
country a fire of criticism which had drawn out his characteri- 
zation of country editors as "those insignificant fellows that 
God, in his inscrutable wisdom, permits to edit the country 



162 LEADERS OF MEN. 

papers." Mr. Greeley came to Albany, and Governor Fen- 
ton presented Mr. Smith to him, at a reception at the execu- 
tive mansion, as the editor of the Express. "Yes, Mr. Gree- 
ley," said Mr. Smith, as he grasped the hand outstretched 
to him, "I am one of those insignificant fellows that God, in 
his inscrutable wisdom, permits to edit the country papers." 
Greeley laughed heartily, and they became good friends. 
Shortly afterward Mr. Smith was appointed private secretary 
to Governor Reuben E. Fenton, and one day was sent to 
New York on a confidential mission from the governor. He 
called upon Mr. Greeley, and saw him at 'that historic desk 
in the Tribune office, writing away with his hand up under 
his chin as he followed his pen with his eye. 

In 1870 Mr. Smith beceme joint editor of the Albany Even- 
ing Journal. In 1871 he was elected a trustee of Union Col- 
lege, on the part of the graduates, and served five years. He 
was a delegate to the Republican National convention in 
1876, and was secretary of the platform committee. In 1877, 
on the retirement of George Dawson, he became sole editor 
of the Journal. The legislature of New York, in 1878, elected 
him a regent of the State University. He was delegate to the 
Republican State conventions for several successive years, 
and was almost invariably chairman of the committee on 
resolutions, and author of the platform. 

Once when Senator Roscoe Conkling and Mr. Smith were 
delegates to a state convention both men were placed upon 
the platform committee. The senator was made chairman of 
the committee, but that the platform as reported was the 
work of Mr. Smith the senator practically admitted to the 
convention ; for, instead of presenting the report himself, he 
asked Mr. Smith to read it, saying, with a smile whose signif- 
icance his fellow-delegates evidently appreciated, " Mr. Smith 
is more familiar with the handwriting of the report than 
I am." 

In 1880 Mr. Smith reached what may be termed the turn- 
ing point in his career. Differences with the majority owners 
of the Journal on some questions of public policy rendered it 
easier for him to accept the proposition of Mr. Calvin Wells, 
a wealthy and influential citizen of Pittsburg, who had shortly 
before this time purchased the Philadelphia Press, and who 
offered Mr. Smith the editorship of that paper. For many 



CHARLES EMORY SMITH. 163 

reasons he was not at first inclined to accept the offer. He 
had become thoroughly identified with, and a leader in, the polit- 
ical life of New York, and had been asked in state conven- 
tions time after time to frame the resolutions embodying the 
platform of the party. He was sole editor of the leading 
newspaper of the capital of his adopted state, and as such 
could command a prominent place in the councils of his party, 
and, should he so desire, preferment for state or federal posi- 
tions of dignity and influence. His important work in the 
national convention of 1876 had given him a national posi- 
tion. He had, moreover, married an Albany girl, Miss Ella 
Huntley, and the home ties of both would have to be broken. 
He had come to anticipate but one possible removal from 
Albany, — that to New York city. After mature considera- 
tion, however, he thought it best to accept the offer of Mr. 
Wells, and consequently in February, 1880, he removed to 
Philadelphia and took up his duties as editor of the Press. 
Upon assuming charge of the editorial columns of the Press, 
Mr. Smith, following the prevailing sentiment in Pennsylvania, 
espoused the cause of James G. Blaine, and up to the time of 
the latter's death was one of the most earnest supporters of 
the Maine statesman. 

His fame as an orator and politician had preceded him, 
and he was soon in demand for advice and assistance in polit- 
ical campaigns, state and national. In 1881 he was selected 
to make the opening speech of the Republican campaign in 
Pennsylvania. The factional quarrels in Pennsylvania poli- 
tics, however, were quite perplexing to the new editor of the 
Press for a time, and he remarked to a friend that while he 
had seen a good deal of New York politics the kind they had 
in Pennsylvania and in Philadelphia puzzled him more than 
anything he had encountered in New York, and confessed 
that it was sometimes not easy for him to find the connec- 
tions. After only about five years' residence in Philadelphia, 
however, he had made so strong an impression on the leaders 
of his party as to be thought of as one of the candidates to be 
presented to the " conference," held in advance of the con- 
vention to nominate a candidate for mayor under the new 
charter for Philadelphia. He refused to entertain the sug- 
gestion, but was chairman of the Union League Committee, 
which as a part of the conference was potential in shaping 
the nomination. 



164 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Mr. Smith took a leading part in the fight for the gold 
standard in Pennsylvania, and was selected to uphold that 
cause before the legislature of his state, participating in a 
joint debate before that body with Charles Heber Clarke, then 
the best equipped and most formidable champion of the silver 
cause in the East. 

When in 1890 Mr. Smith was nominated by President Har- 
rison as minister to Russia, he was tendered a banquet at 
which the foremost men in journalism and politics in the city 
and state united to do him honor. 

The mission to Russia was entirely unsought by Mr. Smith. 
He had, in fact, declined when requested to be a candidate 
and had gone to Washington to urge the appointment of a 
prominent resident of that city to the position. It turned out 
that President Harrison had already determined, without his 
knowledge, to appoint him, but did not disclose the fact in the 
conversation. A few days after his return to Philadelphia he 
received a note from Secretary Blaine offering him the Rus- 
sian mission. Although disinclined to accept because of the 
break it would necessitate in his business relations he finally 
acquiesced on the appointment being pressed upon him. 
While in Russia he was one of the leaders in the relief work 
of the great Russian famine in 1891 and 1892, and had charge 
of the American contributions, amounting to over $100,000 in 
money and five ship loads of provisions. He resigned in 1892 
to resume his editorial duties. 

In 1895 Mr. Smith accompanied the then Governor Mc- 
Kinley at two or three points of his campaign tour in Ohio, 
and was one of the speakers at the opening mass meeting at 
Canton in the campaign of 1890. It is generally understood 
that Mr. Smith wrote a large part of the Republican national 
platform of that year. He had long been an intimate friend 
of President McKinley, and, upon the resignation of Post- 
master-General Gary, President McKinley requested Mr. 
Smith to become a member of his official family, and the in- 
vitation was accepted. Mr. Smith was accordingly nominated 
as postmaster-general on April 21, 1898, and the nomination 
was confirmed by the Senate the same day. 

It is not within the scope of this sketch to treat, in detail, 
of the things accomplished by Mr. Smith as the head of the 
Post Office Department, and, in fact, if that were done, it 



CHARLES EMORY SMITH. 165 

could convey to the reader no just estimate of the value of 
the services he had rendered his country and its President in 
the trying times of the last three years. It is said that when 
President McKinley offered Mr. Smith the portfolio of post- 
master-general the editor of the Press at first demurred be- 
cause he feared that, owing to the vast amount of routine 
connected with the conduct of the postal business of the gov- 
ernment, he would have but little time to devote to considera- 
tion of those larger matters of international and domestic 
policy which are continually pressing upon the President and 
his advisers. The President is said to have told him then 
that he could delegate the details to the subordinates in the 
department ; that a president could get a postmaster-general 
almost anywhere, but that he wanted Mr. Smith at his council 
table in order that he might have the benefit of his varied 
talents in settling the great questions of the day as they arose. 
Mr. Smith followed the President's suggestion, as far as prac- 
ticable, in the conduct of his great department, and by leav- 
ing to his subordinates the decision of all matters of detail 
falling properly under their charge, was able to render to the 
President intelligent co-operation in solving the innumer- 
able, momentous, and perplexing questions which presented 
themselves during Mr. McKinley's first administration. He 
was renominated as postmaster-general by the President on 
March 5, 1901. 

One of the qualities which every successful public official 
should possess is the ability to be absolutely silent or non- 
committal when he thinks it necessary or desirable. Mr. 
Smith is an adept in this art, as all who have business with 
him can testify, and as was well illustrated in one of the 
upheavals in municipal politics in Philadelphia several years 
ago. As editor of the Press he was, of course, making it his 
business to tell the people of his city everything that was 
going on. But the forces confronting each other were three : 
the bosses, the Citizens" Reform Association, and the Union 
League. The bosses were in an ugly mood ; the Citizens' 
Reform Association, like such organizations too often, was 
full of energy but lacked experienced judgment for handling 
a great crisis ; so Mr. Smith, as a skilled politician and head 
of the Union League, had to do most of the hard, practical 
work. This responsibility wrought a change in his methods ; 



166 LEADERS OF MEN. 

instead of following his professional bent he had to keep his 
own counsel with the utmost care. He became like the 
sphinx. The news-gatherers of the Press complained that 
even they could not screw a word out of him. They tried 
the trick of writing out what they had learned during the 
day, and sending proofs of it to him, as editor, to revise. But 
it was useless. If he found some glaring misstatement of 
fact, he would run his pencil through it, but he never told 
what ought to be inserted in its place. It is a gift few public 
men have, and few can acquire, the faculty of calmly smiling 
under a volley of questions or remarks intended to draw out 
an expression, and yet keeping absolutely silent. 

The fellow-feeling which Mr. Smith has always shown 
toward younger aspirants for similar honors is well illus- 
trated by a story told by one now prominent in journalism. 
When a very young man the narrator desired very much to 
get into the newspaper business, but he lived away back in 
the country, and do what he could, turn which way he would, 
there seemed no opening. Finally he wrote a hundred letters 
to as many newspaper editors, begging each of them to give 
him some sort of encouragement. One of these letters he 
sent to Mr. Smith, then editor of the Albany Journal. In due 
time he began to receive replies ; all told there were about 
sixty of them, but only one gave him the slightest hope. 
Most of them were discouraging, and some of them even 
made fun of his untrained aspirations. But the letter from 
Mr. Smith was of such a character as to make him forget all 
the others. It did not offer him a place on the Journal, it did 
not even advise him to push forward in the certainty that he 
was cut out for a newspaper man, but it was kindly and 
considerate in tone, and it contained two or three practical 
suggestions which he followed, and because of which he ulti- 
mately succeeded in obtaining a foothold in his chosen pro- 
fession. 

Mr. Smith is in constant demand for public addresses of 
every character. Each spring brings a large number of invi- 
tations from schools and colleges in all parts of the country 
for commencement addresses ; and to all banquets given by 
large political or commercial organizations of the great cities 
of the country he receives a cordial invitation, usually coupled 
with a request for a speech or response to a toast. He has 



CHARLES EMORY SMITH. 167 

frequently, on such occasions, voiced the sentiments of the 
president and cabinet on important questions then before the 
people. 

Mr. Smith has the reputation of being one of the most 
adroit and resourceful campaigners in public life to-day. It 
has been his fortune to be placed in some peculiar situations 
while on speechmaking tours, but by the exercise of tact and 
forensic skill he has been able invariably to extricate himself 
with credit. One such occasion presented itself during the 
campaign of 1900, when he canvassed all doubtful states from 
Maine to Nebraska. He was in Kansas, and was invited to 
visit one of the principal universities in a near-by city, Metho- 
dist in its teachings, and where many Methodist ministers, 
out of active service from old age, spent their closing days. 
The president of the university begged Mr. Smith to make a 
speech to the students, who had pleaded so earnestly for a 
few remarks that he hoped the postmaster-general would not 
refuse. Mr. Smith consented, and the chapel was soon com- 
pletely filled by an eager audience. A political speech pure 
and simple Mr. Smith could not give to these young men ; 
but, with subtlety and brilliancy, he led his large audience 
along on national issues, without once mentioning the name 
of either candidate or the specific issues involved in the pend- 
ing campaign. When he began his speech he had no idea of 
saying more than a few words, but suddenly, from the nearest 
seat, an aged minister cried out " Amen ! " A few more sen- 
tences, and again that ■'Amen!" now reinforced by others, 
rang through the chapel. The oftener it sounded, the more im- 
passioned and eloquent and fervent Mr. Smith became. It was 
the most unique applause ever given to a campaign orator. 

In his habits Mr. Smith is exceedingly temperate. He does 
not use tobacco in any form, and it is only upon the occasion 
of some formal function that he indulges in wine, and then 
only a glass for form's sake, not because he enjoys it. He 
has said that he never had the time to be convivial ; that he 
could always find more profitable employment for the little 
leisure vouchsafed him during his busy life. He does not find 
it necessary, as do many speakers, to take a glass of wine 
before rising to respond to a toast in order to stimulate 
thought ; his brain is always clear and his thoughts always 
ready for expression. 



168 LEADERS OF MEN. 

The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon Mr. 
Smith by Union University in 1889, Lafayette College in 1899, 
Knox College in 1900, and Wesleyan University in 1901. 

Upon being asked not long ago to what he attributed his suc- 
cess in the career mapped out for himself while a schoolboy, 
Mr. Smith replied that it had, in his opinion, been primarily 
due to "concentration and constancy.'' He had applied all 
his energies along the chosen line and had not allowed him- 
self to be swerved from it until success had been achieved. 
While continuing his newspaper work he endeavored each 
year to make a substantial addition to his equipment. Ameri- 
can biography he found stimulating as well as instructive ; in 
fiction, "Vanity Fair," "David Copperfield," and "The Three 
Musketeers," delighted him. He has always been fond of the 
theater, but has found little time to go. ' He has found his 
chief pleasure in his work. 

It has been well said by one of Mr. Smith's friends that the 
young men of this generation may learn from his life to be 
bodily pure, to be temperate in their habits, never to let down 
their moral tone in intercourse, to be large rather than small 
in observation and reflection, and to keep their eye on national 
affairs rather than on village quarrels and small politicians. 

CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION. 

HE choice of an occupation is a very important factor in 
the success of life. The earlier it can be done the bet- 
ter. The more nearly the aptitudes of the man or 
woman fit the occupation, the more congenial and suc- 
cessful is the career. To follow the "natural bent," when- 
ever it is possible, appears to be eminently wise, for "square 
men should be put into square holes, and round men into 
round holes." Failing to regard the drift of one's being in 
the choice of an occupation is almost sure to put square men 
into round holes, and round men into square holes. 

A good mechanic has often been spoiled to make a poor 
clergyman or merchant, and a good minister has been spoiled 
to make a commonplace artisan. Overlooking the " natural 
bent," the youth has selected an occupation for which he has 
no special aptitude, and he brings little to pass. 

Strong minds readily indicate the pursuit for which they 



CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION 171 

are naturally fit ; others do not. When Dr. Watts was a boy, 
his propensity for rhyming was irresistible. His father be- 
came disgusted with his habit in this direction, and finally 
proceeded to expel it from his soul by flogging. In the midst 
of the punishment, with the tears running down his cheeks, 
young Watts cried out : — 

" Dear father, do some pity take 
And I will no more verses make." 

His father saw that what was bred in the bone could not 
be expelled with the rod, and he very wisely concluded to let 
the boy develop into a poet. 

The celebrated English engineer, Smeaton, displayed a 
marvelous ability for mechanical pursuits even in his child- 
hood. Before he had donned jacket and trousers in the place 
of short dress, his father discovered him on the top of his barn 
putting up a windmill that he had made. But his father paid 
no regard to his aptitude for this or that position. He was 
determined to make a lawyer of him, and sent him to school 
with that end in view. But the boy thought more of wind- 
mills and engines than he did of Euclid or Homer, and the 
result was unfavorable. His father was trying to crowd a 
square boy into a round hole, and it was too repugnant to the 
born engineer. Nature fitted him for a particular place, and 
he got it. 

The Scotch teacher of David Wilkie was wiser than Smea- 
ton's father, for when he saw that the lad could paint better 
than he could write, and loved drawing more than reading, he 
said, "Make a great painter of him." He was continually 
drawing the heads of schoolmates, sometimes singly, and 
sometimes as they stood in classes, always doing his work so 
thoroughly as to surprise beholders. Even when he was a 
little boy, Lord Balgonie called at the manse one day, when 
David drew a half-burned heather stem from the fire, and with 
it drew a portrait of his lordship on the hearthstone, exclaim- 
ing, " Mother, look at Gonie's nose." His lordship possessed a 
nose that, if it was not larger than was necessary, was larger 
than any of his neighbors could boast, and he said the likeness 
was perfect. 

The mother of Benjamin West, too, showed her good sense 
by recognizing the natural bent of her boy toward art. One 



172 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



day he drew a picture of his chubby little sister as she lay in 
the cradle asleep, and the likeness was so striking that his 
mother observed it with admiration, and then imprinted a kiss 
on Benjamin's cheek. "That kiss," said West forty years 
thereafter, "made me a painter." Instead of seeing nothing 
but a freak of childhood in the act, Mrs. West beheld the fore- 
shadowing of a distinguished artist, and acted accordingly. 

Sir John Franklin was an illustration of our theme. His 
father designed that he should be a preacher ; but in his heart 
of hearts the boy meant to be a sailor. This was somewhat 
singular, as he lived twelve miles from the sea, and never saw 
it until he was twelve years of age. On that day, accom- 
panied by an intimate companion, he walked that distance for 
the purpose of gazing upon the ocean. It was the grandest 
spectacle he had ever seen ; and for hours he sat and gazed in 
silence upon its restless bosom. His desire for a "life on the 
ocean wave " grew stronger than ever. He talked about it by 
day and dreamed about it by night. He must go to sea ; a 
denial would break his heart. As he was deaf to all entreaties 
and counsels of his parents, who were thoroughly opposed to 
a seafaring life for their son, there seemed to be no alterna- 
tive. His father yielded to the boy's wish for a seafaring 
life, and procured a situation for him as cabin boy in a mer- 
chant vessel bound for Lisbon. This voyage was selected 
for its roughness, his father thinking that enough hardship 
would sicken him of the sea. But from the time the vessel 
set sail, it was one continuous festival for the adventurous 
and fearless cabin boy. He returned more enthusiastic than 
ever for the life of a sailor, and his father secured for him a 
midshipman's place on board of a seventy-four gun ship of the 
royal navy. He was then fourteen years of age, and from 
that time he began to make his mark. At fifteen his ship 
was in the battle of Copenhagen, under Nelson ; and his valor, 
tact, and efficiency in that conflict proved that he was a gifted 
naval commander in embryo. Obedience to orders, loyalty to 
his country, and the habit of doing the best he could, were his 
traits. He was in the battle at Trafalgar, where he performed 
the perilous duty of signal officer when his comrades were 
falling fast about him, — a youth of nineteen displaying the 
courage and military skill of a veteran. By devotion to his 
profession and fidelity to his superiors, he worked his way up 



CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION. 173 

to knighthood. Great Britain delighted to honor him. He 
was the naval commander above all others selected in 1845 to 
undertake a voyage of discovery in the Arctic ocean. From 
that voyage he never returned. 

Had his father's plan to make him a minister in spite of 
his taste for the sea been carried into effect, the world would 
have lost the services of one of the greatest and noblest ex- 
plorers whose memory it delights to honor. 

But such examples as the preceding are exceptional. The 
aptitudes of most boys and girls are not so manifest. There 
is little or nothing to show whether nature designed them for 
this, or that, or the other occupation. The choice of a profes- 
sion is a more difficult matter with them. Time, thoughtful- 
ness, and sound judgment are indispensable in making the 
choice. Since almost every one will do better in a certain oc- 
cupation than he can in any other, the choice becomes doubly 
important because so difficult. But forethought, circumspec- 
tion, and a sincere desire to make the most of one's life, will 
overcome the difficulty, and guide to the best employment. 
Emerson said, "The crowning fortune of a man is to be born 
with a bias to some pursuit, which finds him in employment 
and happiness." But youth who have not that "crowning 
fortune " must fall back upon their own good sense. 

But sometimes youths desire an occupation for which they 
are not at all fitted. They consult their desires only, and pos- 
sibly think that duty prompts them to it. A youth of no 
scholarship, but possessing a real Christian heart, thought it 
was his duty to become a preacher. Finally his well-to-do 
father consented, and he was put through a course of study, 
and entered the ministry. After he was licensed to preach, 
he visited an aunt, several miles distant, and spent the Sab- 
bath. The pastor invited him to preach in the afternoon, and 
his aunt listened to him with mingled emotions of surprise 
and pity. At the supper table the aunt said : — 

" John, why did you enter the ministry ? " 

" Because I was called of God," John answered promptly. 

The aunt sat in silent thought for a moment, then she 
said : — 

"John, might it not have been some other noise you 
heard ? " 

Youth of both sexes should be guided by something better 



174 LEADERS OF MEN. 

than a noise in choosing an occupation. Let them not mis- 
take a personal desire for a divine commission. 

Parents often overlook the facts in the case, and urge their 
sons into pursuits only because they are honorable, and will 
give them rank at once. We need scarcely say that such a 
course leads to failure. Where there is no fitness for the 
place, there can be no real honors. Matthews was right in 
saying : — 

"Whatsoever nature intended you for, that be, if only a 
counter or tailpiece. If Providence qualified you only to write 
couplets for sugar horns, or to scribble editorials for the 
Bunkumville Spread Eagle, stick to the couplets or to the edi- 
torials ; a good couplet for a sugar horn is more respectable 
than a villainous epic poem in twelve books." 

Some youths find their places late in life, and that, too, 
without much regard to their own choice. Ulysses S. Grant 
belonged to this class. It is quite evident that when he was a 
farmer, broker, and tanner, he had not found his own place. 
But when, in the late Civil War, he led the loyal army of the 
North to victory, and saved the Union, he found the place for 
which he was fitted above all others. 

The famous poet Longfellow was endowed by nature, 
without doubt, with the gifts that won him so great success. 
His father was a lawyer, and designed that the son should 
follow the same profession, but the son had no taste for the 
practice of law. He had already proved that he possessed 
remarkable talents, and the gift of real poetry. During his 
academic course of study he composed several of his best 
poems. He entered Bowdoin College at fourteen years of 
age, and before he was nineteen was graduated and appointed 
professor of modern languages and literature in his alma 
mater, with the understanding that he would spend a year or 
more in Europe, in study for a complete preparation for col- 
lege work. The reader knows what followed,— rapid intel- 
lectual growth until a world-wide fame as scholar and poet 
won admirers for him in every civilized land. 

When the occupation is selected, adherence to it is a condi- 
tion of success. " A rolling stone gathers no moss," is the 
maxim, and it fairly describes the man who often changes 
one occupation for another. Matthews says, " The great 
weakness of your young men is fickleness, and where one of 



CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION. 175 

them perseveres in a calling which he ought to abandon, a 
dozen abandon their calling when they ought to stick to it. 
The better the profession, the more likely they are to do this ; 
for all those kinds of business which are surest in the end, 
which pay best in the long run, are slowest in beginning to 
yield a return." Therefore, his advice is, choose an occupa- 
tion and stick to it. 

A writer in the Merchants' Magazine says: "Mark the 
men in every community who are notorious for ability and 
equally notorious for never getting ahead, and you will 
usually find them to be those who never stick to any one 
business long, but are always forsaking their occupation 
just when it begins to be profitable. Young man, stick to 
your business. It may be you have mistaken your calling ; if 
so, find it out as quickly as possible, and change it ; but do 
not let any uneasy desire to*get along fast, or a dislike of your 
honest calling, lead you to abandon it. Have some honest 
occupation, and then stick to it. If you are sticking type, 
stick away at them ; if you are selling oysters, keep on selling 
them : pursue the business you have chosen, persistently, in- 
dustriously, and hopefully, and if there is anything of you it 
will appear and turn to account in that as well, or better, than 
in any other calling ; only, if you are a loafer, forsake that line 
of life as soon as possible, for the longer you stick to it the 
worse it will ' stick' to you." 

Sir Isaac Newton repelled the idea of being called a genius, 
and declared that his success was won wholly by "continuous 
application." He applied himself so closely that he often for- 
got his meals, and sometimes he pursued his studies into the 
night without observing that the sun had set. 

Archimedes, the great mathematician of Syracuse, often be- 
came oblivious to the passing scenes around him in his enthusi- 
asm to master his subject. When his native city was invaded 
by a foreign foe, and the inhabitants were driven therefrom 
at the point of the bayonet, he was in his study endeavoring 
to solve a geometrical problem. The enemy broke into his 
study and demanded his surrender, but he only raised his 
eyes from his work, and politely requested them to wait until 
he had completed the problem. 

The celebrated William Mason, author of "Spiritual Treas- 
ury," became so completely absorbed in the preparation of 



176 LEADERS OF MEN. 

that work that he scarcely knew whether he was in the flesh 
or out. One day a gentleman called upon him on business, 
promising to call again to complete it at a certain date, which 
Mason marked down, or thought he did, in his book of memo- 
randa. On recurring to it thereafter, however, he found writ- 
ten, "Acts II.: verse 8,**-— the passage he was studying when 
the gentleman called. 

Horace Mann, known the world over in his day as an edu- 
cator and author of the "Common School of Massachusetts," 
won his position and influence by the closest application. 
Born in Franklin, Massachusetts, to an inheritance of poverty 
and hard work, there was no prospect, seemingly, that he 
would ever be known beyond the school district in which he 
received the scanty rudiments of an education. But he carried 
about in his heart a quenchless thirst for an education. It 
was the dream of his boyhood. Somehow he hoped that the 
advantages of seminary and college would be his in the future, 
though he could not imagine how. His father was too poor 
to buy even his few schoolbooks, so the boy braided straw to 
earn money therefor. It was really "all work and no play" 
with him. In manhood, he wrote: "The poverty of my 
parents subjected me to continued privations. I believe in 
the rugged nursing of toil, but she nursed me too much. I do 
not remember the time when I began to work. Even my play 
days,— not play days, for I never had any, but my play hours, 
— were earned by extra exertion finishing a task early to gain 
a little leisure for boyish sports. Industry or diligence be- 
came my second nature, and I think it would puzzle any 
psychologist to tell where it joined on to the first. Owing to 
these ingrained habits, work has always been to me what 
water is to the fish." 

His hard lot was made harder, at thirteen years of age, by 
the death of his father. Still, he continued to dream of an 
education and appropriated every moment he could in the 
daytime, and many hours at night, for mental improvement. 
When he was eighteen years old, a teacher who was qualified 
to prepare him for college came to town. By the closest ap- 
plication he was prepared to enter in six months, and entered 
one year in advance. Few such examples of brave resolve 
and devotion to a given work are on record. His hopefulness 
got the better of his poverty every time in college, and he 



CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION J77 

wrote to his sister : "If the children of Israel were pressed 
for ' gear ' half as hard as I have been, I do not wonder that 
they were willing to worship the golden calf. It is a long, 
long time since my last ninepence bade good-bye to its 
brethren ; and I suspect that the last two parted on no very 
friendly terms, for they have never since met together. Poor 
wretches ! Never did two souls stand in greater need of con- 
solation ! " 

If he did not make fun of poverty, it did not make fun of 
him. 

The incident reminds us of young Garfield, when he 
trudged off to Geauga Seminary, with no clothes except the 
poor ones on his back, and a solitary ninepence in his pocket. 
"It is having a lonely time," he said to his two companions, 
in a tone of pleasantry. The next Sabbath, when the con- 
tribution box was passed, he dropped into it the lonely nine- 
pence " that it might have company," as he said. 

Notwithstanding Horace Mann spent but six months in 
preparing for college, and then entered a year in advance, he 
at once rose to the highest rank, and was graduated valedic- 
torian of his class. His heroic purpose and intense applica- 
tion found its reward in early distinction as an educator and 
statesman. He succeeded John Quincy Adams in Congress, 
where he served six years with great ability. Then he was 
nominated for governor of Massachusetts ; and, at the same 
time, was appointed president of Antioch College. Prefer- 
ring a literary to a political life and being deeply interested 
in the education of young men and women, he declined the 
former and accepted the latter offer. His career confirms the 
remark of Disraeli, "Mastery of a subject is attainable only 
through continuous application." 

Often the dull, plodding pupil, faithful in his place, and 
doing the best he can, in the long run leaves his brilliant, 
talented companion far in the rear. In the lapse of years, his 
persistent application, seconded by its invincible purpose, 
makes for him a place and name. For the want of these ele- 
ments of strength, ten talents often fail in the race of life. 

We recall the brilliant collegian who might have stood at 
the head of his class, but who, for the want of application, 
stood nearer to the foot. He went forth into the world and 
adopted the legal profession, in which he made a signal 



178 LEADERS OF MEN. 

failure, and finally went down to his grave without leaving a 
ripple on the surface of life. 

The young architect who spent his evenings in hard study 
was ridiculed by his fellow-associates for his efforts at self- 
improvement. " The boss will never give you any credit for 
it," they said ; " we won't bother our brains so." But he still 
bent all his energies to master his calling, and, ere his ap- 
prenticeship closed, he won the prize of two thousand dollars 
for the best plan for a state house, offered by a New England 
commonwealth. The result confounded his young associate 
architects, who undervalued his application. 

It is this spirit of consecration to a noble purpose that bids 
defiance to perils, hardships, and difficulties of every sort. It 
led Locke to live on bread and water in a Dutch garret ; 
Franklin to dine on a small loaf, with book in hand, while his 
companions in the printing office were absent a whole hour at 
dinner ; Alexander Murray to learn to write on an old wool 
card, with a burnt heather stem for a pen, and Gideon Lee to 
go barefoot in winter, half-clothed and half-fed. It was the 
price they were willing to pay for success. 

"A smooth sea never made a skillful navigator," as a 
smooth road never leads to success. 

Says another : " The idle warrior, cut from a shingle, who 
fights the air on the top of the weathercock, instead of being 
made to turn some machine commensurate with his strength, 
is not more worthless than the man who dissipates his labor 
on several objects, when he ought to concentrate it on some 
great end." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CHARLES ARNETTE TOWNE. 



ON THE QUALIFICATIONS THAT ASSURE SUCCESS SOME MORAL AND 

MENTAL TRAITS HIS EARLY LIFE SCHOOL DAYS COLLEGE CAREER 

FIRST EFFORT IN POLITICS REVOLT AGAINST MACHINE METHODS ELEC- 
TION TO CONGRESS HIS ELOQUENT PLEA ON THE MONEY QUESTION 

LEADER OF THE SILVER REPUBLICANS NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT 

BY THE POPULIST CONVENTION APPOINTMENT TO THE UNITED STATES 

SENATE RETIREMENT FROM POLITICAL LIFE. OPPORTUNITY. 

Success, as commonly understood, it seems to me, may be 
regarded as the result of a happy combination of opportunity 
and qualification. I assign, therefore, a cer- 
tain function to that which we call " luck" ; 
for while qualification may improve original 
opportunities and may make secondary ones, 
it can never create the first one. Since, 
moreover, no man is responsible for his own 
inheritances, there is still another element 
of luck in that equipment of genius, talent, 
habit, and mental and moral predilections 
with which his conscious life commences. 
The qualifications that chiefly assure suc- 
cess may be grouped as physical, temperamental, mental 
and moral : good health, cheerfulness, intelligence, sincerity. 
With these a man will aim at right ends, study their require- 
ments, persevere in their achievement, and make a noble use 
of results. 





HE best type of successful manhood is not necessarily 

that which accumulates the greatest wealth or occu- 

T pies the most exalted position. A pirate, whether of 

the Spanish Main in old buccaneering days, or on the Stock 

Exchange of modern times, where men may rob and steal 



180 LEADERS OF MEN. 

without exposure to physical danger, may acquire great 
riches, and all too often the thrifty and shifty politician, 
who takes advantage of every changing public sentiment to 
advance a selfish interest, is landed in high office ; but suc- 
cess so obtained never appeals to the higher and nobler nature 
in mankind. No poet who loves truth, and sings of justice 
and humanity, chants the praises of the success attendant 
upon the betrayal of either friends or principles, or glorifies 
the thrift that follows fawning. 

In the struggle of life to the man of high aims and pure 
impulses, the greater measure of success may lie in present 
defeat, and the victory ultimately belong to the vanquished. 

These statements seem commonplace enough, but no cor- 
rect estimate of the life, labors, and achievements of Charles 
A. Towne can be made unless judgment is founded upon the 
basis of high ideals, a love of truth and justice, and a lofty 
and disinterested patriotism. 

Possessed of great ability as an organizer, an advocate 
and a logician, with an intellect that can at once "snatch 
the essential grace of meaning " out of a business proposition, 
an involved question in the law, or detect a false thesis in 
political economy ; a mind that deals in fundamental princi- 
ples and conducts discussions on lofty grounds and for noble 
purposes ; thus superbly equipped for a successful business 
career, he has rather chosen to cast his lot with the minority, 
and has devoted the best years of his life to the advancement 
of those ideas of government and public morality that seem 
to him essential to the preservation of the Republic. 

The story of his life is the not uncommon one of the strug- 
gles and trials of a lad from poverty to a position of leader- 
ship in a great nation. Charles Judson Towne and Laura 
Fargo, his wife, were farmers in Oakland county, Michigan, 
in 1858, and here, in what was in those early days one of the 
substantial farmer homes of the community, Charles Arnette 
Towne was introduced to the world. Born at a time when 
human slavery was the burning topic of the day ; when ora- 
tors like Phillips, writers like Mrs. Stowe and Horace Greeley, 
poets like Whittier and Lowell, statesmen like Lincoln, and 
patriots like John Brown were stirring the conscience of the 
nation, focusing thought upon the great problem of the rights 
and privileges of human beings in their relations to each 



CHARLES ARNETTE TOWNS. 181 

other. The father was a follower of John C. Fremont "to 
the glorious defeat of 1856," one of the pioneers of the Repub- 
lican party. Charles was literally born into the heat of that 
great contest, with all of his immediate surroundings influ- 
encing the development of his character. This may, to some 
extent, be responsible for that fine sense of justice, that re- 
gard for the rights of others, that sympathy for the oppressed, 
and the high ideals of honor and honesty that have been 
leading characteristics of his manhood. 

In his school days, Charles was numbered among the best 
students in his books, but was always the acknowledged 
leader in declamation and amateur theatricals. Little Charlie 
Towne was ever in demand at church entertainments, and 
was the chief number at school exhibitions. So pronounced 
was this talent for public speaking, that at an early age peo- 
ple predicted a public career and a seat in Congress ; but, 
coupled with a glib tongue and an easy presence before an 
audience, young Towne possessed that much rarer quality, a 
capacity for intense application to the task at hand. When 
lessons were hard the night would find him sitting with 
classics and mathematics, his open book upon his mother's 
lapboard, and a wet towel bound about his head to assist by 
its cooling influence in keeping the mind at work. 

He was graduated from the Owosso High School in 1875. 
His graduating oration was on agriculture, this being the last 
of several he had prepared, and it was pushed through under 
high pressure during the last days of the term. This faculty 
of speedy preparation has distinguished his work through 
life ; the ability to formulate in a brief time the study and 
thought of years. His exhaustive speech on the currency, 
made the summer following his election to Congress, was pre- 
pared in four days, and his famous speech in the Senate on 
January 28, 1901, was written in forty-eight hours. 

Towne's course in college was not markedly brilliant in 
scholarship, though he was a good, all-round student, espe- 
cially good in the classics, and leading his section in history 
and political economy. It was as a debater and an organizer 
that he won his chief laurels. Like many of the great men of 
the nation, his reading was careful and his selection wise. 
The library held much more of value to him than the class 
room ; indeed, the class work was supplemented by library 



182 LEADERS OF MEN. 

work, giving a broader and better foundation than ever comes 
to the scholar who follows too closely in the beaten track of 
the college curriculum. 

Towne was the leader of independent college politics. By 
adroit management, keeping his forces intact, and creating 
dissension in the ranks of the enemy, he was able to hold the 
minority in control like a skillful general managing a cam- 
paign. It was here that his power as a leader of men was 
first manifest. Perhaps there is no better test of a man's 
qualification for leadership than this acknowledged suprem- 
acy in a university numbering two thousand of the brightest 
boys that the country produces. He was graduated in 1881, and 
was selected as class orator. Eight years later, while a young 
and unknown lawyer in Chicago, the Alumni Association of 
his university extended an invitation to him to deliver the 
annual oration at commencement time, a most distinguished 
and unusual compliment, showing better than words the mark 
the young man made in his college course ; this position hav- 
ing been filled by Senator Cushman K. Davis, Charles Dudley 
Warner, and other eminent statesmen and scholars of the 
country. 

Mr. Towne's first effort in politics was in 1876, when, a 
lad of seventeen, he made a few speeches in Ottawa county. 
He spoke again in the state campaign of 1878, but his real 
introduction into the work was at Owosso, Michigan, where 
the family lived during the campaign of 1880. It was to 
be his first vote, and he was intensely interested in the 
issues of the contest. He volunteered his services to the local 
committee ; an appointment was made, but, through the negli- 
gence of the managers, no hall was engaged. Nothing daunted 
by this, young Towne secured a dry goods box, carried it to 
the principal corner of the city, and, mounting it, delivered to 
the people who had gathered to hear him an address that 
created more comment than any other of the local campaign. 
How well I recall him as he stood fhere above the crowd in 
the dim light of the street, his pale face, his large, expressive 
eye, and his ringing voice, as he spoke in fierce denunciation 
of the policy and history of the opposition. The fine convic- 
tion as to his duty ; the resolve to do it and bear his part in 
the responsibilities of republican government, were already 
manifest in him. From this day on, it was merely a question 



CHARLES ARNETTE TOWNE. 183 

of time until he should have the ear of the nation, some cause 
that should enlist his sympathies in behalf of the people and 
in defense of the tradition of the government that he loved. 

After graduation, Mr. Towne secured a clerkship in the 
capitol at Lansing. For four years he held this position, 
carrying on at the same time the study of the law at home 
nights, but these things did not claim all his time. He took 
an active interest in politics, and during campaigns was sent 
to the most difficult appointments in the county. In 1884 the 
State Republican, the leading Republican newspaper of the 
state, suggested him for Congress from that district. 

In 1887 he married Miss Maud Wiley of Lansing. Mr. 
Towne was then living in Marquette, Michigan. The follow- 
ing year he moved to Chicago, but the change proved disas- 
trous, and in the summer of 1890 he settled in Duluth, Minne- 
sota. Arriving there without an acquaintance in the city, and 
without means, he soon won his way into the confidence and 
affections of the people. Two years after his arrival he was 
offered the Republican nomination for mayor, but refused it. 
For four years he continued in the practice of the law, estab- 
lishing a reputation for honesty and fair dealing, known as an 
attorney who scorned to become a party to questionable suits 
at law or tricky practices in politics. 

In 1894 he headed a revolt against the machine politics in 
control of the Republican party in St. Louis county and Du- 
luth, wrested the city and county from their grasp, and ac- 
cepted the nomination to Congress in a district at that time 
represented by a Democrat. Mr. Towne managed his own 
campaign, and, despite the opposition of the Republican ring, 
without funds to carry on the canvass, with a district as large 
as the state of Indiana, with poor facilities for transportation, 
and two other candidates in the field, he was elected by a 
plurality of almost ten thousand votes. 

Mr. Towne was now thirty-six years old, and though he had 
been a Republican all his life, and had engaged in active work 
since his seventeenth year, this was the first time he had 
accepted a nomination to office. With this election com- 
mences his career as a public man. 

About this time the depreciation of silver and the general 
fall of prices turned attention to the study of finance. With 
characteristic energy Mr. Towne went into the subject. He 



184 LEADERS OF MEN. 

became convinced that there was a systematic and stealthy 
effort to control the money of the world in the interest of the 
great financial concerns, and to the disadvantage, and often 
ruin, of the producer and the debtor. 

Mr. Towne had been elected on a Republican platform de- 
manding a return to bi-metallism. After careful preparation 
he invited the citizens of Duluth to a public discussion of the 
money question, and then delivered a speech that attracted 
the attention of students of finance throughout the nation. 

Mr. Towne took his seat in Congress in December, 1895, 
and applied himself with diligence to the duties of the office. 
He came with a reputation as an orator, he must prove that 
he was a man of affairs as well. Duluth had long made 
efforts to secure harbor improvements commensurate with her 
growing importance as the head of lake navigation. Mr. 
Towne went into the subject with his usual energy, became 
thoroughly posted on the situation, secured an appointment 
on the Rivers and Harbors Committee, and presented an array 
of facts and figures that not only gained the needed appropria- 
tion at once, but placed the harbor on the continued list so 
that the completion of the work was assured. Here was a 
Congressman who in two months of his first term had accom- 
plished more than his predecessors in many years. 

After the holiday recess, the attention of the House was 
turned to financial legislation. Bills were introduced seeking 
to remedy the existing commercial depression, and discussion 
was rife both in Congress and out. The friends of bi-metal- 
lism, knowing Mr. Towne's views on the subject from his 
speech of the previous summer, insisted that he should take 
part in the debate. With some reluctance, Mr. Towne con- 
sented. There was no time for special preparation and he 
waited with some nervousness the appointed hour, for it was 
to be his first effort in addressing the House. Through life he 
had been a student of political history and the character of 
the nation's great men. As he entered the House on that 
eighth day of February, 1896, he thought of the many con- 
flicts that had occurred there ; of John Quincy Adams and his 
defense of the right of petition : of Webster and Clay and the 
battles for Americanism and the constitution ; of the many 
heroes who had done service upon the floor of the House in 
defense of the people and the republic. He, too, believed pro- 



CHARLES ARNETTE TOWNE. 185 

foundly in the righteousness of his cause, and was convinced 
that he was championing the rights of the people against the 
encroachments of as selfish and unscrupulous a power as ever 
upheld human slavery. 

When Mr. Towne commenced speaking there were perhaps 
fifty people in the House and the galleries were empty, but, as 
he proceeded, word was passed through the capitol that a new 
orator was awakening the best traditions of the House. At 
the end of thirty minutes his time was extended and it was 
noticed that for the first time in the session the House was 
crowded ; even the press galleries were full and many sena- 
tors had strolled over to listen. Twice his time was extended, 
and then he was given unlimited time in which to finish his 
argument, though earlier in the day old members had been 
refused even five minutes in which to address the House. 
For over two hours he held the great and critical audience in 
closest attention. 

The effect of the speech was magical. It was a trumpet 
call to the friends of bi-metallism throughout the nation, and a 
mine of information to all students of finance. Copies of it 
were circulated running into the millions. Letters from all 
parts of the country were delivered by the bushel and com- 
mendation from friends of the cause was carried to the ex- 
treme. Such success following a maiden effort would have 
turned most heads, but Mr. Towne moved quietly through it 
all, attending to the duties of his office. 

Not long after the delivery of this speech, Mr. Towne 
passed through an experience that illustrates one phase of 
his character, a trait that, unfortunately, is too rare in con- 
gressmen, and too little appreciated by so large a percentage 
of the people. Mr. Towne was invited to a banquet where he 
met a chosen coterie of Republican leaders of the House and 
the Senate. At its conclusion each guest spoke in compli- 
mentary strain to Mr. Towne, closing his remarks with the 
expressed belief or hope that he would not leave the Repub- 
lican party, and predicting the highest honors a party can be- 
stow, if he remained in the fold. When the time came for 
Mr. Towne to reply, he thanked each speaker for his interest 
and expressed friendliness, and then said, " But, gentlemen, 
as highly as I hold your friendship and esteem, there is one 
man whose commendation is dearer to me than that of all of 



186 LEADERS OF MEN. 

you ; that man is myself. I am a disbeliever in any scheme 
that looks toward an increased money value through a con- 
traction of the primary money of the nation. If the Repub- 
lican party remains true to its declarations of the past I shall 
stay with it and labor for its success, but if it declares for the 
gold standard at the coming St. Louis convention, abandons 
its previous platforms and passes under the control of the 
money power, it is not I who have left the party, but the 
party that has left me, and I cannot follow it and retain my 
self-respect." Here was a congressman of the old school who 
could not be bought or nattered out of a position he believed 
to be right. 

The proceedings of the St. Louis convention are now a 
matter of history. Mr. Towne, as an alternate from Minne- 
sota, walked out of the convention with Senator Teller and 
about forty others, amid the hootings and jeers of the thou- 
sands, upon its adoption of the platform indorsing the gold 
standard. He did it after refusing arguments that were more 
potent with many delegates whose belief was with him. 

At Chicago Mr. Towne labored for the nomination of Sena- 
tor Teller ; but Mr. Bryan's eloquent "appeal swept him into the 
nomination, the famous Chicago platform was adopted, and 
the old parties were aligned on new issues. 

From this time on, to write the story of Mr. Towne's life is 
to write the history of the movement opposed to modern Re- 
publicanism. 

He was renominated for Congress in his district in 189G by 
the Silver Republican, Democratic, and Populist parties. The 
campaign against him was bitter and determined, and though 
he carried Duluth, the home of his opponent as well as him- 
self, by a large majority, he lost the district by a few hundred. 
Shortly after this he was elected chairman of the Silver 
Republican National Committee. His task was not an easy 
one. With scant funds at his command, he was to perfect the 
organization of a new party. After some months of labor a 
meeting was called at Chicago. Thirty-one states responded 
by sending delegates. Mr. Towne was the moving spirit of 
the meeting and the acknowledged leader of the cause. 

During 1897, Mr. Towne's entire time was devoted to 
organizing the machinery of the party, and carrying on the 
propaganda. Not the least useful of his services was his 



CHARLES ARNETTE TOWNE. 187 

faculty of settling disputes between factions, and bringing 
about harmonious action. Both Democrats and Populists 
trusted him, and to his exertions was largely due the har- 
monious action of the three parties. In one state, when rup- 
ture seemed certain, Mr. Towne was sent for. He called the 
representatives of all the parties together and commenced his 
plea for harmony by saying, "If there is a man here to-day 
who does not hold the cause for which we work above per- 
sonal ambitions, likes and dislikes, I wish he would leave the 
room. I am here representing a party that is formed to fill a 
present mission, and to die ; I believe you are equally sincere." 
As a result of the conference, united action was assured, and 
this occurred not once, but in several states where Mr. Towne's 
persuasive and unselfish pleading united the discordant fac- 
tions. 

In the spring of 1898, Mr. Towne made a tour of the Pacific 
coast in his capacity as chairman of the national organization, 
speaking two and three times daily to audiences limited only 
by the capacity of the halls, often numbering several thou- 
sands. That series of speeches still remains unanswered ; 
logical, eloquent, patriotic, lofty and pure in tone, they are 
an exposition and a defense of the principles he advocated. 

In the summer of 1898, Mr. Morton, Ex-Secretary of Agri- 
culture, arranged a joint discussion at the Omaha Exposition, 
lasting three days, the Greenbackers having one day, the Bi- 
Metallists, one, and the Gold Standard advocates, one. Mr. 
Towne was the leader for the Bi-Metallists. By previous 
arrangements it was agreed that the proceedings should be 
published at the joint expense of the three parties. Why that 
agreement was never carried out, and why the stenographer's 
notes could never be obtained, the Gold Standard delegates 
alone can explain, but Mr. Moreton Freneau, the celebrated 
English bi-metallist, in writing to a friend in this country 
said, "Thanks for your kind letter describing the Omaha 
debate and Mr. Towne's speech. How I wish I might have 
been there to witness the cleavage of that terrible axe and 
count the strokes ! " 

In 1898 Mr. Towne was again nominated for Congress, but 
the unlimited resources of the Republican national organiza- 
tion defeated him by a little over four hundred votes. 

At the national Populist convention in May, 1900, Mr. 



188 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Towne was nominated for vice-president, but the faction of 
Democracy, opposed to Mr. Bryan and the Chicago platform, 
prevented his indorsement by the Democratic National con- 
vention at Kansas City in July, and here again Mr. Towne's 
devotion to the cause prevented a split in the forces. It was 
only his plea for harmonious action that restrained the Silver 
Republican convention of over thirteen hundred delegates 
from nominating a separate ticket, with Mr. Towne as the 
vice-presidential candidate. During the campaign that fol- 
lowed, Mr. Towne was again an indefatigable worker. Shar- 
ing with Mr. Bryan the honor of being the chief advocate of 
the cause, for nine weeks he spoke from two to four times a 
day to great crowds of people, enduring the fatigue of con- 
stant travel on regular trains, with no special car accommo- 
dations, and using his voice to its limit from four to eight 
hours in every twenty-four, — not little platform speeches of 
ten minutes, but at regular political gatherings, — a record 
without parallel in political campaigning. 

The election in November resulted in an overwhelming 
defeat for the Democracy, but it left Mr. Towne one of the 
unquestioned leaders in political thought in the nation. 

Senator Cushman K. Davis of Minnesota died on November 
twenty-seventh following the election, and the force of public 
opinion, not alone in Minnesota, but throughout the nation, 
expressed in letters and telegrams demanding the appoint- 
ment of Mr. Towne to fill the vacancy, forced the offer of the 
commission from the unwilling governor. 

Mr. Towne's position as senator was a most difficult and 
delicate one. He followed Mr. Davis, whose long experience, 
combined with great ability, made him one of the most influ- 
ential members of that body. His term could last only until 
the election of a senator by the Republican legislature which 
met in January. The control of the Senate was in the hands 
of the opposition, and the traditions of that body are all to the 
disadvantage of the new member. On January twelfth, Mr. 
Towne pronounced a eulogy on Senator Davis ; brought into 
direct comparison with the best orators of the Senate, Mr. 
Towne unquestionably bore off the honors of the day. 

Moses E. Clapp was elected senator from Minnesota on 
January twenty-fourth, and on the day after Mr. Towne in- 
troduced the following resolution : — 



CHARLES ARNETTE TOWNE. 189 

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States in Congress assembled, that justice, the 
public welfare, and the national honor demand the immediate 
cessation of hostilities in the Philippine Islands, upon terms 
recognizing the independence of the Philippine people, and 
conserving and guaranteeing the interests of the United 
States," and gave notice that he would address the Senate 
in support of it the following Monday (the twenty-eighth) s 
Without further announcement, the galleries were packed 
long before the hour for the speech had arrived. The senators 
were present in unusual numbers, and the House was left 
without a quorum. 

Mr. Towne addressed the Senate for over three hours in 
support of his resolution, — an exhaustive resume of our acts 
and relations in the Philippines, a complete presentation of 
the case from the standpoint of the Anti-Imperialists. There 
it stands on the records of the Senate, a protest against the 
policy of expansion by force of arms, the violation of the 
spirit of the Constitution, and the nullification of the princi- 
ples of the Declaration of Independence ; and the great audi- 
ence, to the major part of whom orators and oratory were 
an unmitigated bore, listened attentively through it all as Mr. 
Towne pleaded not alone for the Philippines, but for a return 
to the principles upon which the government was founded. 

Not in the history of that body has such an honor and such 
a reception been accorded a member of six weeks' standing. 
While the applause was still echoing through the chamber, 
and the congratulations of friends and foes were being show- 
ered upon him, the managers of the opposition rushed Mr. 
Clapp to the presiding officers desk, the oath was adminis- 
tered, and Mr. Towne, with his manuscript still scattered 
about the floor, had ceased to be a United States senator. 
More than one Republican senator said to his neighbor, 
"Thank God, we are rid of him. He would be a dangerous 
man for us to have in the Senate."' 

Mr. Towne is now in private life, engaged in business pur- 
suits, but the Senate has lost from its counsels a patriot of the 
old school before the spirit of modern commercialism had 
debauched and betrayed the higher ideals of the nation. He 
has ever been a disciple of the statesmanship that declared, 
" I had rather be right than president," and has formed his 



190 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



political life upon the motto of Abraham Lincoln, "Let us 
have faith that right makes might, and to the end dare to do 
our duty." 

OPPORTUNITY. 

PLINY once remarked, "No man possesses a genius so 
commanding that he can attain eminence, unless a 
subject suited to his talents should present itself, and 
an opportunity occur for their development." 

These were wise words. No matter what the talents are, 
the opportunity to develop them must offer, and the possessor 
of the talents must appreciate his chance. 

For this reason, Dean Alf ord wrote : — 

" There are moments which are worth more than years. 
We cannot help it. There is no proportion between space of 
time in importance or in value. A stray, unthought-of five 
minutes may contain the event of a life. And this all-im- 
portant moment,— who can tell when it will be upon us ! " 

No man knows his opportunity better than Edison, the 
famous electrician. It is related of him that, one afternoon 
in the summer of 1888, he chartered a train, shut down his 
works, and took his employees,— over three hundred of them, 
— to New York to witness a ball game. They had not been 
upon the ball grounds over fifteen minutes, when the thought 
of a new invention flashed upon Edison's mind, like a revela- 
tion, and he called to the " boys," " We must go back at once 
to Menlo Park ; I have a new idea." And back they went to 
their work, that their employer might not lose his opportunity 
to add another invention to his achievements. It is quite 
evident that Edison believes with Shakespeare : — 

" There is a tide in the affairs of men, 

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." 

It is not every " new idea " that is worth chartering a train 
for, but Edison's ideas have been his fortune. They were too 
good to be lost ; and he has made them available by reducing 
them to practice at once. All else become subservient to his 
opportunity for the time. The miller must grind the grist 
with the water that is running through the mill-race ; if he 
waits till the water has passed, his opportunity has gone. 

Several years ago, one of Boston's most successful mer- 




EX-SENATOR CHARLES A. TOWNE. 



OPPORTUNITY. 193 

chants was troubled by the scarcity and high price of calf- 
skins, in which he dealt. One morning his daily paper gave 
the report of the London leather market, showing prices far 
below those of American markets. Calling his chief clerk, 
he said : — 

" Could you get ready to sail in the steamer for Liverpool 
this afternoon ? " 

The young man replied promptly, " Yes, sir." 

" Get ready, then, and I will have your instructions pre- 
pared." 

Before night the clerk was on his way to England, with in- 
structions to purchase all the calfskins he could at a given 
price. 

" I made forty thousand dollars by that operation," said 
the merchant to the writer ; " and that is the way we have to 
do in these times, — watch for opportunities." 

"But many people don't knbw an opportunity when they 
see it," we ventured. 

"Very true," he replied ; " and, perhaps, many will never 
learn to know them ; that faculty is not in them. Still, I 
think it may be cultivated by close observation." 

The merchant was right, as well as wise. 

For young people to live in expectation of golden oppor- 
tunities is inspiring. Some writers call these occasions emer- 
gencies ; we call them opportunities. Living in anticipation 
of them, leads to looking for them. He who is looking for 
them is more likely to know them when they do come. 

The late Samuel Williston of Easthampton, Massachusetts, 
became a famous button manufacturer in this way : — 

He was a young married man, poor, but industrious. He 
purchased cloth for a suit of clothes, and his wife was going 
to make them. With the cloth he brought home lasting but- 
tons, for which he paid seventy-five cents a dozen. 

" A great price," remarked his wife ; " I can make as good 
buttons as these ; only get me the molds, that will cost but a 
few cents. Carry them back and purchase button molds, and 
I will show you what I can do." 

Mr. Williston returned the buttons and bought the molds. 
When he saw how readily and easily his wife manufactured 
the buttons, he saw his opportunity and embraced it. She 
manufactured buttons for the market, after making them for 



194 LEADERS OF MEN. 

his coat, and, in time, her husband became the largest button 
manufacturer in the country. Other women have done just 
what she did, but their husbands failed to see an opportunity. 

The young man or woman best equipped by industry and 
application for life work, is quickest to discover opportunities. 
Improvement of present time and privileges, therefore, is 
urged by the highest consideration,— preparation to see and 
use opportunities for one's greatest good. 

A writer says, "It matters not what sea a ship is to sail ; 
its keel must be securely laid, its masts firmly set, its rigging 
of the toughest fiber, in order to sail any sea in safety. One 
hour's tussle with the tempest will test the fiber of its tim- 
bers which were toughened by a hundred years' wrestle with 
Norwegian blasts." So it is with preparation for wrestling 
successfully with great opportunities. The keel must be well 
laid. Manhood and womanhood must be firmly set. Mental 
and moral fiber must be tough. Then, all hail an opportunity ! 
It is the golden gate that opens into a noble life ! 

A visitor to the studio of the noted sculptor, Story, at 
Rome, said : " Around the walls were shelves filled with small 
clay models, single figures, and groups. The sculptor ex- 
plained that often as he worked, some splendid subject for a 
marble figure or group would suggest itself. There was little 
or no use in trying to remember it ; so he would at once turn 
aside from the work in hand, and put his idea into a model, 
small indeed, and hastily shaped, but he had all that he then 
needed, namely, the conception. At any time it could be 
worked up." 

Story's experience was not an exception. All readers, 
students, and workers understood it. A valuable idea is 
suggested by a book or piece of work, and it vanishes forever 
unless it is jotted down at the time in a book kept for the 
purpose. Putting it off to a more convenient season is prac- 
tically treating it as being of no value. Conceptions slip 
away as quickly as they appear, unless they are secured by 
promptly embodying them in script or models. 

Paxton, the architect of the Crystal Palace of 1851, was a 
gardener in the service of the Duke of Devonshire. Several 
years before, he conceived the idea of an immense building of 
glass, and he studied the subject, made his plans, and experi- 
mented, repeating his studies and efforts again and again. 



OPPORTUNITY. 195 

When the committee advertised for plans of a building for 
the famous exhibition of 1851,Paxton saw his opportunity, 
and embraced it. He drew and forwarded plans so novel and 
suitable that they were adopted at once. Professional archi- 
tects and engineers failed to meet the requirements, while 
this gardener, wholly unknown to fame in this line, won the 
prize. By close study and persistent trial, in leisure moments 
by night and day, he prepared himself to seize this oppor- 
tunity, and make the most of it. It made him Sir Joseph 
Paxton. 

The history of all reforms emphasizes our theme. Oppor- 
tunities come to them as they do to individuals. " There is a 
tide in the affairs " of human progress, "which, taken at the 
flood," assures victory sooner or later. 

It was when the attention of some philanthropic Ameri- 
cans was turned to the horrors of slavery, that William Lloyd 
Garrison engaged in editorial work in the city of Baltimore. 
He was not then an Abolitionist, although he was opposed to 
slavery. He was in favor of colonization, so popular with 
many at that time. But, living in the midst of slavery, where 
the terrible nature of the slave power and slave traffic was 
revealed to him, he became a resolute Abolitionist, in favor of 
immediate emancipation. 

"Now is the time to attack the system, or never," he said. 
"Slavery will destroy the nation unless we destroy it." 

At once he entered upon the most vigorous assault upon 
the system. Friends endeavored to dissuade him from his 
purpose, but he resolutely answered, "Now or never. Ten 
years from now it may be too late ! " Even some of his anti- 
slavery sympathizers reasoned in vain with him, to modify 
his views and methods. He was thoroughly aroused by the 
conviction that it was "God's opportunity" to inflict telling 
blows upon the monster evil : and this conviction braced 
him to defy opposition, persecution, and even death itself. 
Dragged through the streets of Boston by a mob, with a rope 
about his neck, he accepted the experience with a coolness 
that astonished both friend and foe ; and he still persisted in 
speaking and writing what he pleased, perfectly satisfied that 
the right would win in the end. " I am in earnest ; I will not 
equivocate ; I will not excuse ; I will not retreat an inch ; and 
I will be heard,'" he exclaimed. 



196 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Subsequent events proved that Garrison was right. The 
conflict with slavery did not begin one day too soon. It was 
truly " God's opportunity," involving self-sacrifice, suffering, 
mighty contests, and harrowing personal experiences. Garri- 
son lived to witness the overthrow of slavery; and he was 
never more convinced of the importance and necessity of 
seizing the favorable opportunity, than he was when the 
Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln set the whole 
slave population of the country free. 

Nothing slips by more easily than an opportunity, and, once 
gone, it is gone forever. The same opportunity comes but 
once in a lifetime. If not improved when it appears, it be- 
comes a lost opportunity, leaving disappointment and pain 
behind, as loss always does. 

In one of his poems, Whittier says : — 

" Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 

The saddest are these : It might have been ! " 

To see what one might have become, what achievements 
he might have made, after it is too late to retrieve the fortune, 
is sorrowful, indeed. To have the chance, yet lose the prize ! 
To see the offer, and let it slip ! Here is ground for lament 
when the fact is appreciated. 

The confession of an American author of "trashy stories," 
as he calls them, written for the " blood-and-thunder" papers 
of the land, is a case in point. 

He possessed both a natural and acquired ability as a 
writer, and might have won fame for himself in the highest 
walks of literary life, but far better pay was offered him for 
trash than for truth, and he let the opportunity for usefulness 
and honor slip. His pen brought him a fortune of two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars, but that is all. No self- 
respect, no pleasant reflections, no peace ! 

Some years ago he said to the New York correspondent of 
the Boston Journal : — 

"I count my life almost a failure. This trash which I have 
been writing has brought me returns upon which I can live 
comfortably, but look at the other side ! I have no peace of 
mind when I think of the havoc I have undoubtedly wrought 
upon young and innocent minds. I can point to nothing with 
any pride of authorship. I am ashamed of it all. Even my 



OPPORTUNITY. 197 

children would hang their heads in shame did they know their 
father was the author of this trashy stuff.'' 

The listener interrupted with the question, "Do not your 
children know it ?" 

"Bless your soul, no; and God forbid that they should 
ever discover it, at least during my lifetime. Why, there are 
only five persons who know that I am the author of the stuff 
I have put out, and they are pledged to secrecy by their friend- 
ship for me." 

"Why did you start on that line of writing, when you 
might have taken up something better ? " the listener inquired 
again. 

" Because it paid me better to write a murderous story than 
a clean one ; and, once begun, I have kept right on. My first 
proved so appetizing to its readers that the editor offered me 
nearly double the price he paid for the first, if I would write a 
second one. Now I hate to think of the number I have writ- 
ten. I have published my stories under fifteen or twenty dif- 
ferent names, male and female, and, if I have written one, I 
suppose I have written two hundred of these beastly serial 
novels. They are all in the same vein, and there is not one 
which has n't a lot of robberies or murders in it. How people 
can read them, I cannot tell. If they despised their reading 
as I do their writing, I would be a poor man now. But it is 
now a thing of the past ; I have written my last story." 

He let slip the one opportunity of his lifetime to make him- 
self a name for the right and good, and his lamentation shows 
what a fearful mistake it was. Such an example enforces 
the divine counsel, " Therefore we ought to give the more 
earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any 
time we should let them slip." 

A prominent business man of New York city let the oppor- 
tunities of his school days slip, without improving them as he 
might have done. He possessed remarkable executive abili- 
ties, was very successful in business, and amassed a fortune ; 
but he was often embarrassed, and even mortified, in the com- 
pany of other business men, because of his limited education. 
He did not think of writing an important letter himself, for 
fear that bad spelling and bad grammar would expose his 
ignorance. He employed a private secretary for all that sort 
of work. 



198 LEADERS OF MEN. 

" I was like too many other boys," he said ; " did not like 
school as well as I did work or play, and so I was never any- 
thing but a poor reader and speller, — poor in most everything 
in which I should have been proficient, and might have been. 
But I did not value my opportunities ; never stopped to think 
that they had anything to do with my manhood ; and now I 
would give my present fortune for the acquisitions those lost 
opportunities would have given me. But it is too late ; regrets 
are of no avail now ; I must carry the burden of that early 
mistake through life." 

Conversation with a gentleman from Omaha, Nebraska, 
upon the remarkable growth of that city, elicited from him 
the following: — 

"Four years ago I had three or four thousand dollars to in- 
vest, and I had a fine opportunity to invest it in real estate in 
that city. A piece of land in the suburbs, so near to the busi- 
ness portion of the town as to assure a rapid advance in value, 
was thrown upon the market. I was urged by interested 
friends to purchase it, and I thought well of the project, but 
delayed decision until one morning the papers announced that 
Mr. C. had bought the land. My opportunity was lost, and 
too late I saw my mistake. The land has just been sold for 
fifty thousand dollars, and it might have been mine had I not 
foolishly let the opportunity slip." 

Recently a lady in a Southern city saw a drunken youth of 
seventeen declaiming to a crowd of loafers on the street from 
English and Latin classics, showing that he was a young man 
of culture. While the woman was looking on with sadness, 
the police arrested the young orator, and lodged him in jail. 
Interested in his welfare, she sought an interview with him, 
and found that he was the son of a wealthy judge in Missis- 
sippi, and that he ran away from home one year before. 

" Were your parents unkind to you that you left them ?" 
she inquired. 

" Unkind ! " he repeated, bursting into tears. " Oh, I wish 
I could remember a single unkind word from them ! There 
would be a little excuse. No, they were too indulgent. I 
was wild then, and I 've heard father say after I had sown my 
wild oats I would come out all right." 

" But I can't understand why you left good parents and 
home," said the lady. 



OPPORTUNITY. 199 

" "Wait a minute, and I will tell you. You see I had good 
school advantages, and was a great reader. For a time I 
read what was elevating and good, and I might have con- 
tinued to read such works, but stories of adventure attracted 
and charmed me. My chances for a" noble and successful 
life were good up to that time, but I swapped the opportunity 
for the best life for the worst. Bad books made me long to 
imitate the young heroes. They gave me a start downward 
and the rest was easy. Warn young people to beware of such 
reading, for it does great harm ; it has ruined me." 

There was a crisis in his life. Two ways met ; had he 
chosen the best books, companions, and habits that offered, 
his brilliant talents and great advantages would have led 
him to usefulness and renown, but he spurned the opportunity 
and let it slip. Then, ruin was speedy. 



CHAPTER IX. 

WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON. 






ON THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTRY WHERE 

EDUCATED ADMITTED TO THE BAR REMOVAL TO IOWA ACTIVITY IN 

LOCAL POLITICS ELECTED TO CONGRESS FIRST IMPORTANT SERVICE — 

BECOMES AN AUTHORITY ON PUBLIC FINANCE A TEMPERATE PARTISAN 

IN POLITICS SOME CHARACTERISTICS. POWER OF CHARACTER. 

There is no real success without integrity, energy, indus- 
try, intelligence, and perseverance in pursuit of the object 
in hand. It is possible that all of these ele- 
ments may not be present at the same time 
and with equal force, but they must never- 
theless enter into and become components 
of that which we call character. They are 
strong allies and will brook no opposition ; 
he who possesses them will turn aside for 
no obstacles that are not absolutely insur- 
mountable. 

A strong character, thus equipped, above 
any suspicion, and a reputation without re- 
proach, is the best capital a business man, a professional 
man, or any other man can possess. It will command honor, 
and bring honor anywhere. 






'ILLIAM BOYD ALLISON, senior senator from Iowa, 
was born on a farm near Ashland, Ohio, March 2, 
1829. He removed to Iowa, in February, 1857, mak- 
ing his home in the city of Dubuque, where he has continu- 
ally resided until the present time. He is of Scotch-Irish 
descent, not only on his father's side, but also on his mother's. 
His ancestors were early settlers of Pennsylvania, his father 
removing from there in 1823 to Ohio, where he purchased a 
tract of unimproved land in what was then Wayne county 



WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON. 201 

and commenced the making of a farm by clearing away 
the heavy timber which spread over that entire section. Mr. 
Allison's early education was acquired at a country school in 
the neighborhood of his home. The particular school which 
he attended had the good fortune to have an excellent teacher, 
who had the faculty of instilling into the minds of his pupils 
the idea that knowledge is power, and that this could only 
be secured by careful study. At the age of sixteen he left his 
home on the farm to attend an academy at Wooster, then the 
county seat of Wayne county. After this he spent a year at 
Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pa., and another year at 
Western Reserve College, then at Hudson, Ohio. Returning 
to Wooster he entered the office of Hemphill & Turner as a 
student of law, spending a portion of his time in the office of 
the auditor of that county, thus earning a portion of his ex- 
penses. After reading law two years at Wooster he removed 
to Ashland, which had then become the county seat of a new 
county established some years before and which was nearer 
his father's home than Wooster. He continued the practice 
of law at Ashland until the spring of 1857, when he removed 
to Dubuque, Iowa, where an older brother had preceded 
him. 

The father of Mr. Allison took an active interest in the 
politics of the period. He was justice of the peace for the 
township continuously for more than twenty years, and at 
that time there were many contested neighborhood cases 
brought before these minor courts, and the young man thereby 
had an opportunity of hearing many discussions of the law. 
His father was a Whig in politics and a great admirer and 
supporter of Henry Clay, voting for him in 1824 and again in 
1841. Mr. Allison took an active part in the local politics of 
Ashland county after his removal there and was a delegate 
from that county to the State convention of 1855, presided 
over by the late Senator Sherman, and was made one of the 
secretaries of the convention. This convention nominated 
Salmon P. Chase for governor. In 185G he took an active 
part locally in the campaign of Gen. John C. Fremont for 
president, and was placed upon the ticket for the position of 
district attorney. The county being Democratic he failed to 
secure an election. During his residence at Ashland he made 
the acquaintance of Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood, who was a 



202 LEADERS OF MEN. 

practitioner at the bar there, residing at Mansfield, only four- 
teen miles distant. Mr. Kirkwood came to Iowa in 1854, 
three years before the removal of Mr. Allison. Many of the 
younger men of Ohio removed to Iowa about this time, and 
no doubt many of them were influenced, as was Mr. Allison, 
by the fact that Mr. Kirkwood, who was a prominent man in 
Ohio, had changed his residence to this new and growing 
state. 

Mr. Allison was a delegate to the convention of 1859 which 
nominated Mr. Kirkwood for governor. He was also a dele- 
gate to the Republican National convention of 1860 at Chicago 
which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and was one of the sec- 
retaries of that convention. 

In the beginning of the Civil War Governor Kirkwood 
made him a member of his staff and authorized him to raise 
regiments in northern Iowa and to equip them for service in 
the field. He had charge of the organization of two regi- 
ments in 1861 and two additional regiments in 1862, all these 
regiments having their rendezvous in a camp established at 
Dubuque. In the summer of 1862 he was nominated by the 
Republicans at West Union, Iowa, to represent the old third 
district in Congress, and was elected. 

During the year 1862 several regiments were organized in 
different portions of the state, and Mr. Allison became satis- 
fied that it would be a wise thing to allow the soldiers in the 
field and in camp to vote at the coming election, believing 
that if this was not done Iowa would lose at least two of 
her six Republican members of Congress. He presented his 
views to Governor Kirkwood and asked him to call a special 
session of the legislature to make provisions to that end. 
The governor, while expressing himself as favorable to the 
plan, hesitated on account of the expense of an extra session, 
and he did not wish to make the call unless it was approved 
by Republican state leaders generally. He requested Mr. 
Allison to go to Burlington and consult with the late Senator 
Grimes, and in the meantime he himself consulted with 
others. Senator Grimes unhesitatingly advised an extra 
session and wrote a note to the governor to that effect, which 
was delivered to the governor in person by Mr. Allison. The 
next day the special session was called and a law was passed 
providing for taking the vote of soldiers in the field. The 



WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON. 203 

lead taken by Iowa in this respect was followed by many 
states. 

His services in the House of Representatives began March 
4, 1863. He was three times re-elected, serving in that body 
until March 4, 1871. He was not a candidate for re-election 
in 1870. At the beginning of his second term in the House he 
was placed on the Committee on Ways and Means, which 
then had charge of all financial subjects relating to taxation, 
tariff, loans, currency, and the standard of money, and all 
questions incident thereto. 

In 1872 he was elected to the United States Senate to suc- 
ceed Senator Harlan. He has been continuously a member of 
that body since that time, and his fifth term will expire March 
4, 1903. He took his seat in the Senate March 4, 1873, and was 
assigned to the Committee on Appropriations, the most impor- 
tant committee of the Senate. He was also placed on the 
Committee on Indian Affairs, then as now an important com- 
mittee, taking rank next to the chairman, and became chair- 
man of that committee in 1875, which chairmanship he held 
until made chairman of the Committee on Appropriations in 
1881. He has remained chairman of this latter committee up 
to the present time, except for two years when the Democrats 
had control of the Senate. 

His first important service began almost immediately after 
the opening of the session in December, 1873. There had 
been serious complaints respecting the government of the 
District of Columbia as organized under the law of 1871. A 
joint commission of investigation was appointed to examine 
and make report, with full power to send for persons and 
papers, examine witnesses under oath, etc. It began its labors 
in the spring of 1874 and continued in session day by day 
during the long session of Congress which followed. Senator 
Allison became chairman of this committee, and at the end of 
the investigation made an elaborate report, which proposed to 
abolish the then existing District government and Board of 
Public Works, and provided for a complete settlement of all 
accounts and debts of the District government up to the time 
of the passage of the proposed law, and the conversion of the 
District debt into fifty-year bonds, bearing .0365 per cent, in- 
terest, interest and principal to be paid proportionately from 
the United States treasury and from the taxes levied on 



204 LEADERS OF MEN. 

property in the District. It provided for a temporary govern- 
ment, which should have charge of all the affairs of the Dis- 
trict, and should consist of three commissioners, one of whom 
should be an engineer of the army, not below the rank of 
major. This government was to continue until Congress, by 
law, should provide for a permanent government for the 
District. A bill embodying these provisions was introduced 
by the joint committee and became a law without material 
amendment. This temporary form of government was made 
permanent by an act passed in 1878, and from 1874 up to the 
present time this has constituted the government of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and has been so satisfactory that no agita- 
tion has at any time been made for a change. 

In March, 1877, he was placed on the Finance Committee 
and has been a member of that committee since that time. 
He was entitled to the chairmanship of that committee in 
March, 1899, by reason of his seniority on the committee, but 
it seemed wiser for him to continue as head of the Committee 
on Appropriations, where he had so long served as chairman. 
He retains his membership on the Finance Committee, being 
next in rank to the chairman. 

During his service on the Committee on Ways and Means 
in the House many important measures were passed relating 
to the refunding of the debt, reduction of internal taxation, 
revision of the tariff, etc. Upon all questions arising in the 
discussion of these subjects he took an active part. During 
the whole period of his service in the House the country was 
upon a paper standard, which resulted in the practical ban- 
ishment of gold and silver from circulation, and because of 
the large volume of paper money and the large debt, funded 
and unfunded, it was not practicable during his service in 
that body to deal with the question of the restoration of 
specie payments. After he left the House and before he 
became a member of the Senate, a law was passed in Jan- 
uary, 1873, revising the mint laws, which had been under 
discussion for some years. Before that time, although we had 
been on a paper standard from 18G2, the law remained pro- 
viding for the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and 
silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. In revising the mint laws these 
coinage provisions were repealed and gold alone was made 
the standard of money and the unit of value for all trans- 



WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON. 205 

actions, the mints were closed to the free coinage of silver 
and that metal was relegated to a limited coinage on govern- 
ment account as fractional silver only, being made legal 
tender to the extent of five dollars. Later on it was claimed 
that the demonetization of silver, as it was called, was a 
mistake and not so intended by those who voted for the Act 
of 1873. 

In the Congressional campaign of 1874 it was strongly 
urged by Republicans and eastern Democrats that the time 
had come for a restoration of our currency to a specie basis 
and that steps should at once be taken to that end. The 
Democrats of the South and West generally took an opposite 
view, contending that the greenback circulation was a valu- 
able circulation and that there was no necessity for a return 
to specie payments. In that election the Democrats, for the 
first time since 1861, secured a majority in the House of the 
next succeeding Congress. After this election the leading 
Republicans in both Houses decided that it was of the utmost 
importance to pass a law looking to the restoration of specie 
payments before the new Congress should assemble. The 
Republicans of the Senate held a caucus and selected a 
committee of eleven to prepare a bill. This committee con- 
sisted largely of the then older members of the Senate, but 
Senator Allison was made a member of it and participated 
actively in its deliberations. This committee reported a bill 
to the Senatorial caucus, which was unanimously agreed 
to by the caucus. It was reported to the Senate from the 
Finance Committee, passed the Senate without amendment, 
passed the House without amendment, and became a law 
with the signature of President Grant. This law has since 
been known as the Resumption Act of 1875. During the de- 
bate on this bill in the two Houses no question was raised as 
respects the Act of 1873, before alluded to, but the new Con- 
gress which came in in December, 1875, criticised the Act of 
1873 on account of the change regarding silver coinage, and 
bills were introduced for the restoration of silver as it had 
stood in our statutes before 1873. In the presidential election 
which followed in 1876 it was strongly urged in some portions 
of the country that silver should be restored to free coinage. 
Following this election there was a wide agitation for this 
restoration, and the House Coinage Committee favorably re- 



206 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ported a bill providing for free silver coinage. When the 
new House assembled in October, 1877, on motion of Mr. 
Bland the rules were suspended and the House passed, by a 
vote of 163 to 34, a measure for the free coinage of silver, 
although silver was depreciated ten or eleven per cent, as 
compared with gold, by reason of the abandonment of the 
free coinage of silver by the Latin Union states in Europe 
and by Germany. 

Senator Allison's first important service on the Finance 
Committee related to this subject. He had been a member of 
the committee but a few months when, in November, 1877, this 
bill, then called the Bland bill, came to the Senate from the 
House and was referred to the Finance Committee. The 
committee then consisted of nine members. Four of them 
were in favor of the Bland bill, and four others were in favor 
of the single gold standard as established by the Mint Act of 
1873. Senator Allison believed then that, because of the de- 
preciation of silver as compared with gold, it would be im- 
possible to maintain the parity of the coins of the two metals 
at the ratio proposed, which had been the statutory ratio since 
1837, except through an international agreement to be made 
by all the leading commercial nations of the world, and if 
that were not done the opening of our mints then to the free 
coinage of silver as proposed by the House would result in the 
silver standard in this country. Therefore he voted with the 
four members who were for the gold standard and against 
the House proposition, thus defeating the free coinage of 
silver in the committee. He then offered two amendments to 
the bill, one of which proposed the coinage of a limited 
quantity of silver each month on government account, 
thereby maintaining the standard as established in 1873, but 
giving to the United States a supply of silver for circulation 
in our own country to be maintained at the standard of gold. 
The other amendment proposed that the nations of Europe be 
invited to a conference with a view to re-establish among the 
commercial nations of the world the use of silver upon a ratio 
of equivalence to be agreed upon, with the free mintage of 
both metals in all these countries at such ratio. The bill with 
these two amendments was favorably reported to the Senate 
by a majority of the committee, and placed in charge of Sen- 
ator Allison in the Senate. A long and interesting debate 



WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON. 207 

upon the money standard followed. The result of the dis- 
cussion was the adoption of the amendments by the Senate 
by more than a two-thirds majority, and the passage of the 
bill thus amended by a like majority, and, when the bill was 
returned to the House in amended form, it was accepted by 
that body. It was vetoed by President Hayes. It was passed 
over the veto by a two-thirds majority in both Houses and 
became a law, resulting in the coinage of about three hundred 
and seventy million silver dollars before it was changed by 
the Act of 1890. In the debates on this bill Senator Allison 
took a leading part, making the closing speech in the Senate 
in behalf of the amendments and the bill, which speech is well 
worth perusal by all who are interested in the money stand- 
ard. His contention at that time has been fully vindicated by 
the history of these two metals from that time until now, and 
in all the discussions that have taken place upon this ques- 
tion, and in all the plans and projects respecting our money 
standard during these intervening years, he has consistently 
adhered to the position he took at the outset, and has con- 
stantly maintained that it was for the interest of the United 
States to maintain the gold standard upon which we resumed 
specie payments in 1879, until by an international agreement 
silver and gold could be placed upon a parity in general use 
throughout the world by the adoption of a common ratio. 

The policy advocated by him respecting an international 
agreement, and incorporated in the legislation of 1878, was 
generally accepted by the people of the United States, both 
the Democratic and Republican parties in their national plat- 
forms having declared explicitly in favor of it as the only 
method of securing the universal circulation of both gold and 
silver as money metals, locally and internationally. The first 
international conference was held in 1878. This failed, and 
Congress unanimously provided for another conference to be 
held in 1881, which also failed. At both these conferences the 
United States was represented by able commissioners ; at the 
latter one especially, the three members being Hon. W. M. 
Evarts of New York, and Senators Thurman of Ohio and 
Howe of Wisconsin. Notwithstanding these failures this gov- 
ernment still adhered to the policy, and in 1892 Congress made 
provision for another international conference, which met at 
Brussels in November, 1892. The United States was repre- 



208 LEADERS OF MEN. 

sented by five commissioners chosen by President Harrison, 
who selected Senator Allison as the chairman on behalf of 
this country. This conference, like the others, failed to adopt 
any plan, but made progress toward an agreement beyond 
what had hitherto been made. This subject then seemed 
important, not only to the United States, but to all the nations 
as well, and its importance has only diminished by reason of 
the enormous production of gold during the last five or six 
years. So it will be seen that his familiarity with this subject 
and his ability to deal with it were recognized by the Presi- 
dent and Congress as well as generally throughout the country. 
The Act of 1890, known as the Sherman Act, greatly in- 
creased the government purchases of silver, and provided that 
treasury notes, made a full legal tender, should be issued for 
circulation to the amount of the cost of the silver bullion pur- 
chased, and authorized the coinage of the silver from time to 
time to meet the redemption of these notes. Senator Allison 
objected to this bill on the ground that it would be impracti- 
cable to sell on a depreciating market the silver thus pur- 
chased, and, although these notes were nominally redeemable 
in silver, they were precisely the same kind of notes as the 
greenbacks, which were constantly redeemed in gold, and that 
these treasury notes must necessarily be redeemed in gold if 
the gold standard was to be maintained ; that as they gradu- 
ally accumulated the reserve for their redemption and for the 
greenbacks would have to be largely increased, and that 
finally the whole system would fail and result in the silver 
standard. But he was overruled in his opinion by most of the 
leaders of the Senate and House, and when this bill was 
finally agreed to as a compromise, although it did not meet 
his approval, he voted for it, as did all the Republicans in both 
Houses. His fear was soon realized in part, and in 1893 the 
law was repealed so far as it related to continued purchases of 
silver, and by that repeal the unavoidable result of a silver 
standard of money, which otherwise would have followed its 
continuance on the statute books, was averted. The experi- 
ence of the two or three years following this repeal clearly 
indicated that the provisions for the redemption of greenbacks 
and treasury notes were inadequate to at all times maintain 
their convertibility into gold coin, and various plans were 
suggested to strengthen the laws providing for the gold stand- 



WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON. 209 

ard and for the maintenance of all forms of money at that 
standard. This discussion resulted in the pledge made by the 
Republican party in 1896 in its National platform, and in the 
subsequent authorization of a special committee in the House, 
and of the Finance Committee in the Senate, to formulate laws 
which would accomplish these ends. Senator Allison took a 
prominent part in the preparation of these measures, which 
resulted in the passage of what is known as the Currency Act 
of March 14, 1900, which provides for a permanent reserve 
sufficient to make certain the convertibility directly or indi- 
rectly of all forms of money in circulation into gold at the will 
of the holder. This law also provided for the refunding of 
the great body of the public debt, by exchanging for the 
three, four, and five per cent, coin bonds outstanding, a gold 
bond bearing two per cent, interest, and up to the time of 
writing this sketch more than one half of all outstanding 
bonds have been so converted — a financial operation unpar- 
alleled in the history of the world — showing that the credit of 
the United States is stronger and better than that of any other 
nation. Therefore, it may be said, that in all the important 
legislation on this subject during his service in Congress Sen- 
ator Allison has borne a conspicuous part, and his general 
views are largely embodied in the legislation. 

He has also had a large part in shaping the tariff laws 
from 1877 to the present time, having been an active 
participant as a member of the Finance Committee in the 
frequent revisions of the tariff since that time. The Tariff 
Commission created by Congress in May, 1882, made its report 
in December of the same year, and following this report 
the House considered a bill revising the rates of duty. 
The Senate Committe on Finance in the meantime took up 
the internal revenue bill, which passed the House during the 
preceding session, and attached to that bill an amendment 
revising the whole tariff system substantially in accord with 
the report of the Tariff Commission, but making many 
changes in the details of that report. The bill as amended 
passed the Senate after considerable debate near the close of 
the session. When it reached the House it led to an acrimo- 
nious debate upon the privileges of the two Houses, but a 
conference was finally agreed upon between the two Houses 
and the bill became a law on the day of final adjournment. 



210 LEADERS OF HEX. 

Senator Allison was a member of the sub-committee of the 
Finance Committee which prepared this revision and was a 
member of the conference on the part of the Senate. 

In 1SS5. after several Secretaries of the Treasury had 
called the attention of Congress to the imperfections in the 
administration of the custom laws and the administrative 
features of those laws, the Senate authorized the Finance 
Committee to investigate the subject. The chairman named 
a sub-comminee of three for this purpose, and Senator 
Allison became chairman of this sub-comminee. The com- 
mittee labored on the subject for more than two years, making 
a thorough personal examination of the details of administra- 
tion as disclosed in the New York. Boston, and other custom 
housr> Senator Allison reported from the committee a bill 
making a complete revision of the metho > : -leering the 
duties and creating new machinery for the classification and 
appraisement of imports. It was accompanied by an elabo- 
rate printed report collating all the laws on that subject which 
had been enacted since the foundation of the government up 
to that time. This bill passed the Senate in 1888 I: was 
not considered in the H: ;se. When the Mills tariff bill came 
to the Senate this bill - :ached to it as an amendment, 
but failed of enactment with the Mills bill. This bill, fa 
ever, was introduced by Mr. McKinley in the House in Decem- 
ber, 1SS9. and became a law substantially as it passed the 
Senate about a year before. Under this law all our customs 
collections are now made, no material amendments having 
since been made to it. 

The House passed in 1SSS. at an early stage of the session, 
a bill providing for a revision of tariff duties on the line? : 
the Democratic contention of a tariff for revenue only, known 
as the Mills bill. It was thoroughly considered by the Finance 
Committee in the Senate, first by a sub-committee of which 
Senator Allison was chairman. This sub-committee held hear- 
ings and took testimony comprehending three large octavo 
volumes, and continued its work during most of the summer 
of that year. Senator Allison reported the bill from the full 
committee in September and had charge of it on the floor of 
the Senate. It was considered up to adjournment on October 
30 without passing. It passed the Senate ai the following 
short session in 1889, but did not become a law because of the 






WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON. 211 

failure of the House to agree to the Senate amendments, or to 
a conference. These Senate amendments made an elaborate 
revision of the tariff on the lines of "protection" as distin- 
guished from that of ''for revenue " as proposed by the Mills 
bill, and it introduced many new views as to the classification 
of objects of import duty. It especially provided, among 
other things, for ample protection to the tin-plate industry, 
which provision was later on embodied in the McKinley bill, 
the important amendment relating to tin-plate being offered 
by Senator Allison on the floor of the Senate and agreed to 
after debate. 

In 1890 the McKinley bill passed the House, embodying in 
its provisions the classifications and changes which were con- 
sidered and passed by the Senate a year before, although it 
increased in many particulars the rates of duty proposed in 
the Senate amendments. The bill was considered by a sub- 
committee of the Finance Committee of which Senator Alli- 
son was a member, and was reported to the Senate by Senator 
Morrill. During its consideration in the Senate, Senator Alli- 
son, having had charge of it in sub-committee, practically 
took charge of it on the floor of the Senate. He was also 
active in proposing and offering amendments to what was 
the Wilson bill, which became a law in 1S91. He was on the 
sub-committee that prepared the amendments to the Dingley 
tariff bill of 1897 and gave patient attention to this subject 
for more than two months in the spring of that year. 

He was strongly urged by President Garfield to accept the 
position of Secretary of the Treasury under his administration. 
The same tender was made by President Harrison in 1889, 
and it is well known that he could have taken the position of 
Secretary of State under President McKinley"s first admin- 
istration, but he declined all these tempting offers of adminis- 
trative positions, preferring to represent in part the state of 
Iowa in the United States Senate, that position being more 
congenial to his tastes and more in line with his life work 
and studies. 

He was frequently mentioned as an available candidate 
for president, and was three times strongly supported by his 
own state in National conventions for that office. It should 
be said in justice to him that he never had a consuming 
ambition for the place, so that no disappointment lurked in 



212 LEADERS OF MEN. 

his mind or memory because others were selected as candi- 
dates of the Republican party. 

Although the Senate in its organization is supposed to be a 
conservative body, with long continued service of its mem- 
bers, there is no man now in the Senate who was there when 
Senator Allison took the oath of office in 1873, and there are 
few now living who served in that body prior to 1873. 
Senator Jones of Nevada and Senator Allison took the oath 
of office on the same day and therefore are contemporaneous, 
but the latter having served eight years in the House is the 
senior in service at the Capitol at this time, and it may be 
truthfully said that he is the natural and recognized leader 
of that body and exerts a wider influence than any other 
member of it. He is chairman of the Republican caucus of 
the Senate and as such has charge and control of the 
business of the Senate. His time is probably more fully 
occupied during sessions of the Senate than any of his 
colleagues. The exacting duties of the chairman of the 
Committee on Appropriations make it necessary for him to 
know the scope of every bill which carries an appropriation 
of public money, and it is often necessary for him to be 
absent from the chamber during the sessions on committee 
work, especially during the short sessions and near the close 
of every session. And while his name may not appear so 
actively and prominently on the floor of the Senate as will 
the names of some others, yet all the important legislation 
undergoes an investigation from him and from his committee 
in some form. He is always listened to in the Senate, 
because when he speaks he endeavors to illustrate the topic 
under debate and to contribute information upon the matter 
pending. 

He has always been an active though temperate partisan, 
and has been able to secure the respect and esteem of his polit- 
ical opponents by his fairness of method and deference to the 
opinion of those who differ from him. He has spoken in every 
campaign in Iowa since 1862, first making a thorough canvass 
of his district when he was in the House, and afterwards 
when elected to the Senate making a general canvass of the 
state. His speeches, though not as attractive in an oratorical 
sense as those of some of his colleagues, are always interest- 
ing, entertaining, and instructive to his audience. 




SENATOR WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 



POWER OF CHARACTER. 215 

He was married in 1854 to Miss Anna Carter, daughter of 
Daniel Carter of Ashland, Ohio, a man of prominence in that 
portion of the state. She was a highly intelligent, amiable, 
and beautiful woman, and greatly beloved by all who knew 
her. She died at Dubuque in 1860. In 1873 he married Miss 
Mary Nealley of Burlington, Iowa, the adopted daughter of 
Senator andJMrs. Grimes. During the last few years of her 
life she was an invalid, and in spite of all that love and skill 
and affection would suggest she gradually declined and died 
in August, 1883. 

Senator Allison has sometimes been criticised because of 
his hesitation to express opinions upon subjects or matters 
upon which he is called to make decision. This is a mistaken 
view of his character. He does hesitate, but only to give full 
consideration of the subject. Therefore he does not introduce 
into the Senate bills of an experimental character or which 
meet the fancy or suggestion of some one who seeks radical 
changes in existing conditions. He is on this account often 
called a conservative in the discussion and consideration of 
public measures. He carries this conservatism into his every- 
day life. As an illustration of this : He has lived in the 
same house at Washington, No. 1124 Vermont avenue, since 
1877, during the life of his wife and her mother, Mrs. Grimes, 
and he still resides there. When in Iowa he resides at No. 
1134 Locust street, Dubuque, which has been his home from 
August, 1857, until now. 

During his whole service he has been an active and tireless 
worker on matters of public character, not only during ses- 
sions of Congress, but during most of the recesses. This con- 
stant attention to his public duties and willingness to take 
upon himself the consideration of public questions is probably 
one of the reasons why he has so much strength in the Sen- 
ate, because it is believed by his associates that he gives full 
consideration of the subjects placed in his charge. 

POWER OF CHARACTER. . 

eHARACTER must not be confounded with reputation. 
Character is what a man is ; reputation may be what 
he is not. Character is one's intrinsic value ; reputa- 
tion is what is thought of him — his value in the market of 
public opinion. Hence, character is stable and enduring ; 



216 LEADERS OF MEN. 

while, as another has said : " The reputation of a man is like 
his shadow ; it sometimes follows and sometimes precedes 
him ; it is sometimes longer and sometimes shorter than him- 
self." 

Character is indispensable. Every one is in duty bound to 
possess it. It is not optional with us to cultivate it or not, as 
we please ; it is a solemn obligation. Professor Blaikie, of 
the University of Edinburgh, said to a class of young men : 
" Money is not needful, power is not needful, cleverness is not 
needful, fame is not needful, liberty is not needful, even 
health is not the one thing needful ; but character alone, is 
that which can truly save us, and if we are not saved in this 
sense, we must certainly be damned." Smiles urges the same 
truth : " Every one is in duty bound to aim at reaching the 
highest standard of character • not to become the richest in 
means, but in spirit ; not the greatest in worldly position, but 
in true honor ; not the most intellectual, but the most virtu- 
ous ; not the most powerful and influential, but the most 
truthful, upright, and honest." 

Character is greater, even, than intellect. It is the most 
valuable possession a youth ever acquires. Without it he is 
poor, though he may have amassed a million dollars. The 
most abject pauper on earth is the man without character. 
He may live in a stately mansion and flourish his magnificent 
turnout, and obsequious fools may applaud him ; but he is a 
moral tramp, nevertheless, more perilous to society on account 
of his money, and to himself also. 

Every youth, then, should know that it is his and her 
sacred duty to make unblemished character ; that is an obliga- 
tion they cannot shirk. It may not be their duty to be wise 
and learned, or to be senators or senators' wives, but it is their 
duty to possess spotless characters. Anything short of this 
cheats society and robs God. The youth who denies this 
truth, and lives indifferent to the worth of character, will 
probably drift along with the current of events until the star 
of his destiny reaches its zenith on the meridian of Sodom. 

Character is, also, power ; and it is this thought that we 
especially emphasize now. It is said that " knowledge is 
power," but knowledge may exist without character. Add 
character to it and we have invincible power. Luther said: 
" The prosperity of a country depends, not on the abundance 



POWER OF CHARACTER. 217 

of the revenues, nor on the strength of its fortifications, nor 
on the beauty of its public buildings ; but it consists in the 
number of its cultivated citizens, its men of education, 
enlightenment and character. Here are to be found its true 
interests, its chief strength, its real power. " 

When Jonathan Goodhue, of New York city, died, the 
din of traffic was hushed in the streets. Commerce felt the 
loss keenly, and merchant and artisan crowded around his 
bier at the funeral. The mayor and other officials were there. 
The poor and unfortunate were there, too. None were so 
high and none so lowly as not to do him reverence. His char- 
acter drew them there. The preacher said on that occasion : 
" It is the recognized worth of private character which has 
extorted this homage. It is the man himself, the pure, high- 
minded, righteous man who adorned our nature, who digni- 
fied the mercantile profession, who was superior to his 
station, his riches, his exposures, and made the common 
virtues more respected and venerable than shining talents or 
public honors. This was the power of his life." 

We have just paid our centennial tribute to the memory 
of Washington "the father of his country," whose personal 
character more than his skill as a general, or his ability as a 
statesman, has enshrined him in the heart of his countrymen. 
John Adams was president in 1798, when it was expected that 
France would declare war against the United States, and he 
wrote to Washington saying, " We must have your name if 
you will permit us to use it ; there will be more efficacy in it 
than in an army." This was a greater tribute to his charac- 
ter than that of a general in the War of the Revolution, who 
declared that Washington's presence " doubled the strength 
of the army." Moral qualities live longer than intellectual 
ones, because they have more power over the hearts of men, 
and for this reason, the name of Washington is connected 
with more places and events, in this country and Europe, than 
that of Napoleon or Caesar. 

When character is found in union with great talents and 
the. best social qualities, its power is phenomenal. This is 
eminently true of Chauncey M. Depew, of whom a biographer 
says : " He is a serious orator on any occasion worthy of 
high eloquence, a shrewd and far-seeing politician, a broad- 
minded statesman, a successful business man, a skilled law- 



218 LEADERS OF 3IEN. 

yer, a polished man of society and of the world, and, above 
all, in all the private relations of life, a thoroughly manly 
man, a Christian gentleman." From his earliest boyhood he 
loved reading, and studied men and things. Everybody was 
his friend, and a neighbor prophesied that he would become 
renowned because of his ability, energy, perseverance, and 
moral principle. In college he was a great reader, fine 
debater and orator, "most cordially liked, and most thor- 
oughly respected. " A classmate said of him recently : " Depew 
stood conspicuous above all the men of his time in college for 
the remarkable union of two sets of qualities : a purity of 
feeling and conduct, a clearness of soul and speech, and a 
largeness and firmness of integrity and honor which are 
rarely seen, united with a breadth of sympathy, a kindliness 
of heart, and a generosity of good fellowship which drew the 
best men to him. He never bent, never swerved, never 
showed any stain to the purest eye." He is now what he was 
then, and this fact explains his wide influence, great popular- 
ity, and remarkable success. 

Smiles says: "Character is one of the greatest motive 
powers in the world. In its noblest embodiments, it exem- 
plifies human nature in its highest forms, for it exhibits man 
at his best." 

Character must not be undervalued as capital. It has been 
said, " When poverty is your inheritance, virtue must be your 
capital," and many young men have learned the truth of this 
maxim from personal experience. They have found that 
they started in business just as well without money as they 
could have done with it. Some years ago a youth of sixteen 
years was advised to sell bread on commission, because it 
would be more profitable to him than to drive a bread cart on 
monthly wages. He had learned the business of a baker, and 
had sold bread from a cart for several months. 

"But I have no money to invest in horse and wagon," he 
replied ; " every dollar of my earnings I have given to my 
mother for the support of the family." 

"Buy a horse and wagon on credit," advised the friend. 
"A dozen men in town will sell you an outfit on credit 
because they know you. Poverty, with such a character as 
you have, is a better capital than ten thousand dollars would 
be to some men." 



POWER OF CHARACTER. 219 

Encouraged by this counsel he found no difficulty in pur- 
chasing a horse and wagon, for which he paid in less time 
than he promised. He succeeded in business, established a 
bakery of his own, became a prominent citizen of his town, 
represented it in the House of Representatives, was chairman 
of its school committee, subsequently represented his sena- 
torial district in the Massachusetts Senate ; for twenty years 
presided over more political, temperance, anti-slavery, and 
religious conventions than any other citizen of his county 
because of his ability in that line ; was presidential elector to 
one of the most important Republican conventions ever con- 
vened; and more than twenty years ago was Massachusetts 
commissioner to the International Exposition at Paris, 
France. Character did it. It was better capital for him than 
money. Had he possessed only money he might never have 
got beyond the bakeshop. It was capital that did even more 
for him out of his business than in it. Money could only have 
aided him in the bakery business; it would not have made 
him an enterprising, useful, and honored citizen. But char- 
acter did all this, and even more, for him. 

Money capital will not secure confidence, or, at least, not 
the confidence requisite in the transaction of business. Enough 
money will beget confidence in the pecuniary ability of a 
trader, but that alone will not beget confidence in his moral 
ability. It is not a guarantee against lying, cheating, or 
other forms of over-reaching ; but character is. Hence, it is a 
peculiar kind of capital, constantly increasing in value, intro- 
ducing the possessor to channels of influence and power he 
had not thought of. It was said of that famed New York 
merchant, Gideon Lee : "It was his misfortune — if, indeed, 
it be one — to be born poor ; it was his merit, by industry and 
perseverance, to acquire wealth. It was his misfortune to be 
deprived of an education when young ; it was his merit to 
force it in maturer age. It was his misfortune to be without 
friends in his early struggle, to aid him by their means or 
counsel ; it was his merit to win them in troops by a character 
that challenged all scrutiny." 

It is not the sight of money that makes the creditor feel 
easy, but it is the sight of character. The "sound of the 
hammer at five in the morning " satisfies him that industry is 
only one virtue of many in the heart of the toiler whose 



220 LEADERS OF MEN. 

hammer is heard so early in the morning. Even the money 
capital of the debtor who is seen in the playhouse, or heard in 
the barroom, does not make the creditor easy, for he knows 
that these and kindred resorts have exhausted the pecuniary 
resources of many a trader. 

A young man was serving as clerk on an annual salary of 
five hundred dollars. He was as efficient, reliable, and pains- 
taking, however, as he would have been on a salary of five 
thousand. Customers liked him, his employers confided in 
him, his habits were correct, and his character was without a 
stain. He was surprised, one day, by an offer from one of 
their best patrons to become his partner in an extensive job- 
bing business. " Put your character against my money, and 
we will share the profits equally." 

The modest young man scarcely knew what to say at first. 
After recovering from his surprise, however, the subject 
was canvassed with the customer, and a speedy conclusion 
reached. The partnership was consummated, and it proved 
harmonious and successful. The character of the young mer- 
chant was worth more to the concern than the capital of his 
confiding friend. It gave the firm standing at once. Its 
value grew, also, from year to year, giving the company a 
firmer grip upon public confidence. He who had only charac- 
ter to invest found himself in a few years among the leading 
men of the city, not only one of its merchant princes, but one 
of its counselors, officers, and benefactors. The money in- 
vested at the outset had been long forgotten, but the character 
which the young man put in had grown fairer, richer, and 
more influential. 

Sixty years ago, a boy of eight or ten years, in Danville, 
Maine, lost his father by death. His mother was too poor to 
support the large family of children, so this son went to live 
with a neighbor, a farmer. He was a good boy ; industrious, 
pleasant, self-reliant, truthful, aspiring, and manly. The 
farmer and his wife liked him. He was a great reader, and 
his employer encouraged him to improve his spare moments in 
that way, and he allowed him all the schooling there was in 
town— a few weeks each year. At fourteen, however, he 
thought he might go up higher. He felt that he might do more 
and better in Boston! After proper conference with his mother 
and the farmer, he left for Boston, having little more money 



POWER OF CHARACTER. 221 

than enough to pay his passage there. Thinking it wise for 
him, under the circumstances, to accept the first offer, he went 
to work on a farm in Roxbury, at four dollars a month, at the 
same time keeping a lookout for a chance in a store. In two 
years a favorable opportunity introduced him to mercantile 
business in Boston. Without being conceited at all, he knew 
that he was fitted for such a sphere. Scarcely three years 
more elapsed before Joshua Stetson, a leading merchant of 
Boston, attracted by his intelligence, self-reliance, ability, and 
high character, offered to furnish him with capital to com- 
mence business for himself. He accepted the kind offer, and 
became a merchant, at the corner of Mechanic and Hanover 
streets, just as he became twenty years of age. At the end of 
four years, his trade amounted to one hundred thousand 
dollars annually. Then followed the firm of Jordan, Marsh & 
Company, before he was thirty years of age ! It was his devo- 
tion to business, and, more especially, his personal character, 
that led Mr. Stetson to offer him capital with which to set up 
business for himself. Character was transmuted into literal 
cash capital. 

Louis XIV. ruled large France, but he could not conquer 
little Holland. The reason was not quite clear to him, and so 
he asked Colbert, his minister. The latter replied, "Because, 
sire, the greatness of a country does not depend upon the 
extent of its territory, but on the character of its people. It is 
because of the industry, the frugality, and the energy of the 
Dutch that your majesty has found them difficult to over- 
come." The war capital of France was a standing army ; 
that of Holland was character. 



CHAPTER X. 

GEORGE DEWEY. 

HIS DETESTATION OF LYING — BIRTHPLACE GEORGE DEWEY'S BOY- 
HOOD FIRST CRUISE SCHOOLING AT THE NAVAL ACADEMY IN THE 

CIVIL AVAR AFLOAT AND ASHORE CHARACTERISTICS MANILA PER- 
SONAL TRAITS. COMMON SENSE. 



If I remember correctly, I gave my father considera- 
ble bother and worry when I was a boy, and even during 
part of my college course. I was n't mali- 
cious, or classed in any sense as bad, and I 
think that I uniformly tried to make the 
most out of my opportunities and behaved 
myself. 

There is nothing that I detest so much in 
a man as lying. If he has n't the courage to 
tell the truth, let him at least keep his mouth 
entirely closed. I don't believe that any 
man ever lost anything in the long run by 
telling the truth. At the same time, I don't 
think any man ever gained anything in the long run by tell- 
ing a lie. s^^Z? r~^\ 

2u 



^^ 







ca 



DMIRAL DEWEY was born in Montpelier, Vt., Decem- 
ber 26, 1837. And if early rising really be a state 
quality, as Vermonters claim, prosperity follows hard 
upon the practice of it. To have seen the city of Montpelier 
is to have beheld the very embodiment of industry and thrift, 
and of comfortable wealth, their consequence. Everybody 
appears well-to-do, and, what "is better, busy. The little city 
is bright and clean, with solid and tasteful houses of the 
colonial type, mostly of brick, set back behind broad, shaded 



GEORGE DEWEY. 223 

lawns. The wide streets are lined by magnificent elms, and 
the green hills of Vermont tower high above you on either 
side as you walk. Montpelier, like most Vermont towns, was 
built upon the hills first, and it was perhaps with reluctance 
that the settlers came down into the narrow valley of the 
Onion, now called the Winooski. 

The cottage where George was born and passed his child- 
hood still stands, but it has been removed some distance down 
the street from its old site, directly across from the white- 
columned State House. In bygone days it was a vine-clad 
cottage, and the Onion river ran through the pleasant fields 
and gardens behind it, between weeping willows and stone 
walls. The steep, velvet side of a hill rises from its farther 
bank. Little George loved the river ; his bare feet knew 
every stone in it. One day he was summoned out of the 
rapids and dragged reluctant into the parlor to meet "com- 
pany." The "company" still have a vivid memory of the 
very small boy with the roguish black eyes and restless face 
— none too clean — and of the sinewy, bare little legs, and 
even of the battered straw hat, innocent of brim, which he 
held bashfully in his hand while the introduction was in prog- 
ress. 

George's sister Mary, two years younger, was his constant 
companion when his excellency permitted. She knew no 
keener joy than that of plodding after him many a weary 
mile with a tin of worms. To bait his hook was a privilege 
unspeakable. How often of late has she lived over those 
years while awaiting news of him from the far-away Orient ! 
George was not a great reader in those days. " Robinson 
Crusoe" pleased him and aroused a passion for adventure in 
far-away lands which he took out in tramps over his own 
Vermont mountains, with sister Mary, perhaps, as man Fri- 
day. But a fateful day came when his big brother Charles, 
twelve years older, presented him with a copy of the " Life 
of Hannibal." Snow lay thick on the steep slope behind the 
State House, and over it a heavy crust with surface like 
glass. To ten-year-old Hannibal here was a Jungfrau ready 
to hand and well-nigh as formidable. Orders were at once 
issued to sister Mary, in this instance the army and all the 
appurtenances thereof, who cheerfully left her "Child's Life 
of Queen Bess " and the cozy fireside to follow her captain 



224 LEADERS OF MEN. 

over the Alps — no mean undertaking — and afterwards to 
pay for her loyalty, poor little soul ! by a week in bed. His- 
tory does not mention what happened to George. 

It could scarce be expected that a general or an admiral 
should go through life without fighting. Fights occurred in 
those days, though the town records of Montpelier fail to re- 
veal time or place or results. If rumor be true, however, re- 
sults were with the future admiral. He was a born leader, 
and owned a temper that kind Dr. Dewey had more than once 
to reckon with. George had a wiry little frame, and its con- 
stant activity made the gaining of flesh quite out of the ques- 
tion. The Rev. Mr. Wright, a prominent clergyman of Mont- 
pelier, remembers the admiral at this period very well. Mr. 
Wright was a schoolmate. "George was always a fighting 
boy," said he. So is the child father to the man. 

Mr. Wright also recalls going to " nigger minstrel " shows 
in George Dewey's barn. George was the life and soul of 
these shows (and they were by no means confined to such low 
comedy as minstrels) — he was business manager, stage 
manager, took the leading parts, and I believe the future 
admiral's productions were exclusively brought forth here. 
Sister Mary invariably preferred the audience and a back seat, 
whence she could admire without being seen. But on one oc- 
casion the regular leading lady (ten years old), being unavoid- 
ably absent, Mary was peremptorily told to come forward and 
take the part. "But I don't know it at all, George," she 
objected. That made no difference. George was to fire his 
pistol at the awkward crisis, and so Mary carried off the mat- 
ter, on the whole, very creditably. 

This pistol-shooting, by the way, proved a huge drawing 
card, and attracted such crowds to the theater that there was 
scarce standing room. A wholly unwarranted interference 
on the part of the neighbors put an untimely end to plays and 
play bills by an edict from the doctor. A peanut stand near 
the door, another feature of popularity, modern managers 
might do well to copy. 

The bump of destructiveness seems to be a necessary at- 
tribute to the fighting character, and it was not lacking in 
George Dewey. His chief offense in this direction was the 
killing of a pet dove which belonged to a young lady of twelve 
in the neighborhood. But since this very trait in the admiral 



GEORGE DEWEY. 225 

has finally led to the destruction of all the Spanish ships he 
could lay hands on, he has recently, though not until recently, 
been forgiven by the aggrieved lady, who still lives in Mont- 
pelier. She has so far gone against her convictions as to have 
penned him a letter of congratulation. 

It is not generally known that the admiral's first cruise 
took place when he was no older than eleven. It happened in 
this wise : He started out one day in his father's buggy, ac- 
companied by his friend Will Redfield, bent upon an overland 
trip of adventure — to drive the cows home, it has been said. 
But when they came to the Dog river, which enters the Wi- 
nooski some distance from the town, they found it higher 
than the oldest inhabitant had ever seen it, the ford impassa- 
ble from recent rains. William prudently counseled turning 
back, but to this the admiral would not listen. 

"What man hath done, man can do," said he, and he 
whipped up his horse and went at the ford four bells. Need- 
less to say, he found no bottom ; the superstructure of his frail 
craft, which in this case was the buggy top, cast adrift and 
floated swiftly away toward Lake Champlain, while the ad- 
miral serene as ever, and the thoroughly frightened William, 
clambered on board the horse and managed to land in safety. 
When the boy reached home the doctor was away on a pro- 
fessional call, and an innate sense of tactics bade George go 
directly to bed, without waiting for supper. The father found 
him apparently asleep, but was not deceived, and immediately 
began to chide him for his rashness, when his son replied from 
the depths of the covers : — 

" You ought to be thankful that my life wath thpared." 

Alas ! the future admiral lisped. 

George Dewey was sent first, when a little chap, to the 
Washington County Grammar School in Montpelier. The 
scholars there did not have the reputation of being amenable 
to discipline, and it is to be feared that George was no excep- 
tion to the rule. To this school, after a variety of failures, 
came Mr. Z. K. Pangborn, now Major Z. K. Pangborn of the 
Jersey City Journal. The boys, quite exhilarated by the suc- 
cess they had had with former masters, made a bold stand, 
with young George Dewey to the front and center. George 
was at once called upon for examination, but, the spirit of 
mutiny being rife within him, he declined to go. The dominie 



226 LEADERS OF MEN. 

thereupon seized the collar of young Dewey with one hand 
and his whip with the other ; no quarter being cried, none was 
given, and the lad got a whipping the like of which had never 
been served out in that district. He was then told to go 
home, and Mr. Pangborn went along, the rest of the school 
trooping at his heels. Dr. Dewey stood at his door, and siz- 
ing the situation at sight of the procession, dismissed the boys 
and took the schoolmaster and George to his study. 

"What is it, my son ?" he asked. 

In answer George stripped off coat and shirt and showed a 
back covered with red stripes, which gave his father more 
pain than he felt himself. But the doctor was a just man — a 
very just one. Perceiving that George was still not as repent- 
ant as he should be, he brought him round by declaring that 
he himself would add to the punishment if Mr. Pangborn had 
not given enough. The hint proved sufficient. 

It was natural that a boy of Dewey's spirit should grow to 
have an affection for the dominie who did not flinch from his 
duty. When Mr. Pangborn went to Johnson, Vt., a year or 
so afterward to establish a private academy, George followed 
him thither by his own request. Perhaps it was here he wrote 
the essays on " Fame," which his sister treasured for a quarter 
of a century or more and sent to him six years ago. Captain 
Dewey replied on reading it over that it was much better than 
he ever expected to write again. 

At fifteen he went to the Norwich Military Academy at 
Norwich, Vt., and it was while there he conceived a strong 
taste for a military life, and expressed a desire to go to 
Annapolis. This was greatly against his father's wishes. 
But it had never been the doctor's policy to thwart his chil- 
dren, and he consented. It so happened that Dewey men- 
tioned his ambition to George Spalding, a schoolmate of his, 
to discover that Spalding had like designs. It was Spalding 
who obtained the appointment, and Dewey the alternate, 
through Senator Foote. But fate, in the guise of a stern New 
England mother, stepped in at this juncture, and so it came 
about that the Rev. George B. Spalding preached a war 
sermon in Syracuse, New York, upon the occasion of his old 
schoolmate's great victory. 

Dewey entered the class of 1854 at the age of seventeen. 
At that time he was a strong, active boy of medium height, 



GEORGE DEWEY. 227 

with flashing black eyes and shoulders beginning to broaden. 
He could swim as one born to the water should, and excelled 
in all outdoor exercises. At Annapolis he found the line 
sharply drawn between the Northern and Southern boys, and 
George proceeded at once to get into trouble. He had a spirit 
that would bear no insult, and he was singled out by the 
leader of the Southern lads as the most promising of the 
Northern faction, for a little excitement. The Southerner was 
not disappointed. George was far from resenting the term 
of " Yankee " ; he thought that of " dough-face " more oppro- 
brious, and as the quarrel grew his enemy did not stop there. 
So, one day, coming out of mess, George waited for him and 
calmly knocked him down, and got decidedly the better of 
the mix-up that followed. Sometime afterward he had an 
inkstand hurled at his head in the reading room, which re- 
sulted in another personal encounter, with the freshman admi- 
ral again victorious. But the matter did not end even here, 
for the Southerner wrote a challenge to mortal combat with 
pistols at close range. The offer was accepted with alacrity, 
the seconds chosen, and even the ground paced off, when the 
classmates, seriously alarmed, informed some of the officers 
stationed at Annapolis. And so again fate was kind to 
Dewey's country. 

It is pleasant to learn, when now the South and the North 
are firmly united under the one flag with one heart for our 
country, that the breach was eventually healed. On both 
sides were lads of honor and courage, quick to recognize these 
qualities in the other, and. as the class became united, George 
Dewey grew to be one of its most popular members. Some- 
how, a quiet fellow who can " do things " is always popular, 
and George was this kind. 

Young Dewey was graduated in 1858, number five in his 
class. But fourteen out of perhaps sixty-five who started in 
received diplomas. George was not naturally a student, but 
he excelled in the study of seamanship. It may be well to 
mention here that Admiral Dewey is the logical result of a 
system which produces the best naval officers in the world. 
The reason of this is not far to seek. We have not only the 
very finest of material to choose from, for the American offi- 
cer combines valuable qualities of his own with the necessary 
traits which are found in the English and other northern 



228 LEADERS OF MEN. 

races, but also because the whole result of the Annapolis 
training may be summed up in the phrase "the survival of 
the fittest." It is the refined metal alone that comes out. 
At Annapolis a lad is thrown entirely upon his own resources. 
He knows there is no bottom under him if he falls ; and he is 
forced to enter into competition with the brightest minds from 
all over the country for his very existence, as it were. And he 
is put to a discipline and hardship more rigid than that of the 
enlisted man aboard ship. His superiors know no such thing 
as favor. 

George Dewey entered the academy with a hatred of 
lying. He went into the service with this feeling intensified, 
and in all the years he has been at sea he has been lenient 
with Jack for every offense but this. As a midshipman he 
was sent to the European station, cruising for two years in 
the Mediterranean on the Wabash, with Captain Barron, of 
Virginia, who afterward joined the Confederate navy. Visit- 
ing Jerusalem he sent an olivewood cane to his grandfather, 
then living in Vermont. The old gentleman died with that 
cane by his side, and his very last words were of affection 
for the grandson who had sent it. In 1860 George returned 
to Annapolis to be examined for a commission, showing his 
ability by leading his fellows. This stand, combined with 
that of his graduation, gave him a final rating of three in his 
class. 

A great deed like the victory of Manila is not the accom- 
plishment of an hour, nor yet of a day, but of a lifetime. 
The spirit that impelled the eleven-year-old hero across the 
flood was the same, to be sure, as that which sent Commodore 
Dewey into a black harbor in the Malay archipelago, past un- 
known shallows and frowning forts and over torpedoes, to 
fight a treacherous race. But in the commodore, boyish dar- 
ing was tempered by years of hard study of his profession and 
other years of hard fighting in some of the fiercest battles of 
the Civil War. 

Dewey was at home in Montpelier when Sumter was fired 
upon. One week afterward he secured his commission as 
lieutenant and was ordered to the steam sloop Mississippi, of 
the west Gulf squadron. He was then twenty-three years 
of age, and the black eye had become piercing. It will be 
remembered that Farragut raised his flag over this fleet in 



GEORGE DEWEY. 229 

February, 1862. The Mississippi was the only side-wheeler 
of the lot. Commander Melancthon Smith was her captain 
and Dewey her first lieutenant. Early in April the larger 
ships, the Mississippi among them, were unloaded and hauled 
over the bar, and by the night of the twenty-third the squadron 
was ready for the business of running past the formidable bat- 
teries of St. Philip and Jackson, ready to conquer the Con- 
federate fleet beyond and to press on to New Orleans. 

Farragut divided his ships into two divisions, Capt. Theo- 
dore Bailey to have command of that going first, and the 
Mississippi was the third in his line. Decks were white- 
washed, no lights were showing, and the night was inky 
black save for the lurid red of an occasional Confederate fire. 
The big ships, having a speed of only eight knots, hugged the 
shore to avoid the swift current. On, on they steamed, a 
slow, stately procession that knew no check, until the flames 
of the broadside guns leaped into the very ports of the bat- 
teries and the shot struck in mid-air. So close were they that 
the gunners hurled curses at each other across the narrow 
space of black water. On the high bridge of the side-wheeler, 
in the midst of belching smoke and flame, stood Dewey, guid- 
ing the Mississippi as calmly as though he were going up 
New York bay on a still afternoon in Indian summer. He 
was perfect master of himself. 

"Do you know the channel, Dewey?" Captain Smith 
asked anxiously and more than once as he paced from port to 
starboard. The lieutenant was very young, only twenty-four, 
and the situation would have tried a veteran. 

" Yes, sir," replied Dewey with confidence each time. But 
he admitted afterward that he expected to ground any mo- 
ment. 

This is how Chief Engineer Baird, U. S. N., who was there, 
remembers him : "I can see him now in the red and yellow 
glare flung from the cannon-mouths. It was like some terri- 
ble thunderstorm with almost incessant lightning. For an 
instant all would be dark and Dewey unseen. Then the forts 
would belch forth, and there he was away up in the midst of 
it, the flames from the guns almost touching him, and the big 
shot and shell passing near enough to him to blow him over 
with their breath, while he held firmly to the bridge rail. 
Every time the dark came back I felt sure that we would 



230 LEADERS OF MEN. 

never see Dewey again. But at the next flash there he stood. 
His hat was blown off and his eyes were aflame. But he gave 
his orders with the air of a man'in thorough command of him- 
self. He took in everything. He saw a point of advantage 
and seized it at once. And when from around the hull of the 
Pensacola the rebel ram darted, Dewey like a flash saw what 
was best to be done, and as he put his knowledge into words 
the head of the Mississippi fell off, and when the ram came up 
alongside the entire starboard broadside plunged a mass of 
iron shot and shell through her armor, and she began to sink. 
Her crew ran her ashore and escaped. A boatfs crew from 
our ship went on board, thinking to extinguish the flames 
which our broadside had started and capture her. But she 
was too far gone. Dewey took us all through the fight, and 
in a manner which won the warmest praise, not only of all 
on board, but of Farragut himself. He was cool from first to 
last, and after we had passed the fort and reached safety, and 
he came down from the bridge, his face was black with 
smoke, but there was n't a drop of perspiration on his brow." 
Things began to go wrong on the river a year later, and 
Farragut once more ran up from the Gulf to adjust them. 
Port Hudson shoals and currents are among the most danger- 
ous on the stream, and it was while running the forts here 
that the Mississippi was lost. The Hartford and Albatross 
led, then came the Monongahela and Kineo, the Richmond 
and Genesee, followed by the Mississippi alone. The Monon- 
gahela and her consort both grounded, though they managed 
to get off. But directly opposite the center of the Port Hud- 
son battery the Mississippi stuck hard and fast, as fair a 
target as could be wished. Shot after shot was poured into 
her until her hull was riddled, and she had to be abandoned. 
She was hit two hundred and fifty times in half an hour. The 
officers who took the first boats never returned, and so the 
task of getting the men to safety devolved upon Lieutenant 
Dewey. Twice he went to the Richmond and twice came 
back, until at last he and Captain Smith stood alone on the 
deck. She was set afire in five places. "Are you sure she 
will burn, Dewey?" the captain asked as he paused in the 
gangway. Dewey risked his life to go to the ward room for a 
last look, and together they left the ship, Dewey without his 
coat tails, sorrowfully, with the shot splashing all around him. 



GEORGE DEWEY. 231 

Lieutenant Dewey was then made first lieutenant of one of 
the gunboats which Farragut used as a dispatch boat. The 
admiral used often to come aboard and steam up near the 
levee to reconnoiter, and he grew to have a great liking for 
the quiet young lieutenant. The Southerners had a way of 
rushing a field piece to the top of the high bank, firing point- 
blank at the gunboat, and then of backing down again. Upon 
one such occasion Farragut sawDewey dodge a shot. Said he:— 

" Why don't you stand firm, lieutenant ? Don't you know 
you can't jump quick enough ?" 

A day or so after the admiral dodged a shot. The lieuten- 
ant smiled and held his tongue ; but the admiral had a guilty 
conscience. He cleared his throat once or twice, shifted his 
attitude, and finally declared : — 

" Why, sir, you can't help it, sir. It 's human nature, and 
there 's an end to it." 

Lieutenant Dewey that same year was at Donaldsonville, 
and afterward succeeded to the temporary command of the 
Monongahela when her captain, Abner Read, was killed. 

If getting into the thick of the fighting be deemed good 
fortune (and Admiral Dewey would call it so), Lieutenant 
Dewey was one of the luckiest officers in the war. He was 
Commodore Henry Knox Thatcher's first lieutenant on the 
Colorado at Fort Fisher in December and January, 1864-65. 
The Colorado, you may be sure, was well within striking 
distance of the fort, but, being a wooden ship, was in the 
second circle. Toward the end of the second engagement, 
when matters were moving the right way, Admiral Porter 
signaled Thatcher to close in and silence a certain part of the 
works. As the ship had already received no inconsiderable 
damage, her officers remonstrated. But Dewey, who, in addi- 
tion to dash and bravery, had now acquired marked tactical 
ability, was quick to see the advantage to be gained by the 
move. "We shall be safer in there," he said quietly, "and 
the work can be taken in fifteen minutes." It was. The New 
York Times, commenting upon this part of the action, spoke 
of it as " the most beautiful duel of the war." When Admiral 
Porter came to congratulate Thatcher the latter said, gener- 
ously : — 

" You must thank Lieutenant Dewey, sir. It was his 
move." 



232 LEADERS OF MEN. 

The "move" won for Thatcher the nomination of acting 
rear admiral, and when, next month, he was sent to relieve 
Farragut at Mobile Bay, he recommended Dewey for his fleet 
captaincy. Probably the department hesitated, for fear of 
arousing jealousy, to give so great a promotion to so young a 
man, for Dewey was not appointed. But in March, 18G5, two 
months after Fort Fisher, his courage was promptly rewarded 
by a commission as a lieutenant-commander. 

After the war Lieutenant-Commander Dewey served for 
two years on the European squadron, first on the Kear- 
sarge, and then on the flagship Colorado. In 1867, while 
on duty at Portsmouth, he became engaged to Miss Susy 
Goodwin, daughter of Ichabod Goodwin, known as the " fight- 
ing governor" of New Hampshire. In 1868 he was attached 
to the Naval Academy, then in charge of Admiral Porter, and 
many officers now in the navy have a keen recollection of the 
hospitable quarters on the Santee. In 1870 he received his 
first command, that of the Narragansett. In 1872 came the 
great and, so far as the public knows, the only cloud upon 
his life. Late in that year he was left a widower. The admi- 
ral has one son, George Goodwin Dewey, born in 1872. He 
has not followed his father's career, but after graduating at 
Princeton embarked in business in New York city. 

In 1875 Lieutenant-Commander Dewey was advanced to 
be commander, and was assigned to the Lighthouse Board. 
Next he was in command of the Juniata, of the Asiatic 
squadron, and recent events showed that he employed his 
opportunities to good advantage. He was honored in 1884, 
upon attaining his captaincy, by receiving the Dolphin, 
which was among the very first vessels in our new navy, then 
known as the " White Squadron." 

It was in New York harbor, while on the Dolphin, that 
Captain Dewey showed how thoroughly he knew the vagaries 
of human nature as well as the principles of good discipline. 
Perhaps he bore in mind some lesson inculcated in early youth 
by a wise father. At any rate, the admiral has always been 
noted for his ability to deal with "Jack." The "Jack" in 
question was a paymaster's yeoman, or something of the 
kind, and he refused to obey an order of the first lieutenant, 
because, he said, it was outside the line of his duty. The lieu- 
tenant, after vainly remonstrating with him, reported the 



GEORGE DEWEY. 233 

matter to Captain Dewey, who sauntered out on deck and 
looked his man through and through, which made the yeo- 
man exceedingly uncomfortable. Nevertheless he remained 
stubborn. " What ! " said the captain, "you refuse ! Do you 
know that that is mutiny ? When you entered the service you 
swore to obey your superior officers." The man was silent 
and made no move, whereupon the captain very quietly told 
the corporal to call the guard, stood the obdurate yeoman on 
the far side of the deck and bade the marines load. Then he 
took out his watch. "Now, my man," said he, "you have 
just five minutes in which to obey that order," and began to 
call the minutes. At the fourth count the yeoman moved off 
with considerable alacrity, and has since been one of the 
strongest opponents of the policy of tampering with the " old 
man," as the admiral has for some time erroneously but 
affectionately been called in the forecastle. 

From the Dolphin, in 1885, Captain Dewey went to the 
Pensacola, then flagship of the European squadron. Since 
1888 he has occupied various responsible positions on shore, 
such as a second time a member of the Lighthouse Board and 
chief of the Bureau of Equipment. At his promotion to be 
commodore he went to the head of the Board of Inspection 
and Survey. It is said that the commodore was averse to the 
Asiatic station, where he hoisted his burgee on the first day 
of 1898. He had been in poor health, however, and welcomed 
sea duty on that account, as did his friends for him. But war 
with Spain was then among the strong probabilities, and 
Commodore Dewey regretted being sent so far away from the 
Atlantic, which the naval experts considered was to be the 
principal battle ground. As the commodore was leaving New 
York for his new station he made the remark, which has 
since proved to have been not without significance, that he 
was the first commodore in Asiatic waters since Perry. As it 
turned out he went, as ever, into the thick of it. The depart- 
ment put the right man into the right place. 

The characters of Admiral Dewey and of his father, Dr. 
Dewey, are in many respects strongly alike, despite the dif- 
ferent fields of usefulness in which each has been placed. 
Both have the same quiet sense of humor and the habit of 
looking at the bright side of life. Both are the rare type of 
man who does that duty which comes to hand with all his 



234 LEADERS OF MEN. 

might. The doctor was a man to be trusted implicitly ; so is 
the admiral, and that fact has even become a byword at the 
Navy Department. The doctor's nature was essentially reli- 
gious, of the special kind of religion which is known as 
charity ; Dr. Dewey's charity began at home, with his chil- 
dren, to spread over the countryside. The admiral's has 
spread wherever Jack Tar has trod. He makes no parade of 
religion ; his devotional books and his Bible are hid in his 
cabin where none can see them. But they are there. The 
admiral has won fame because it came in the line of duty. 
He did not seek it, but the custom he had formed of doing 
things well made it inevitable. And this custom he got from 
his father. 

Both men are quiet. The admiral talks little but never 
about himself. He also comes naturally by a love of music 
and has an excellent voice ; there are many men and women 
now in Montpelier, who remember with pleasure the guitar 
he brought home from Norwich and the songs he sang to it. 
At Annapolis he was a member of the midshipman's choir. 
He also inherits from the doctor his love of children. The 
youngsters in his native town call him " Uncle Captain," and 
when he revisits the old place he is frequently surrounded by 
a juvenile audience, for he tells a child's story to perfection, 
which in itself is no mean gift. Of late years his health has 
not been rugged, but he is an ardent sportsman, indulging 
his taste when it is possible, but of all lubberly exercises he 
prefers riding. His manner with strangers is almost reserved, 
but cordial ; with friends he is unmistakably earnest. Out- 
side of the study of tactics and of his profession, which he 
has most completely mastered, he has read little. 

The admiral, as may be supposed, has an eminently human 
side to him. He is exceedingly popular, especially in Wash- 
ington, where he belongs to several clubs, the Metropolitan, 
and the Army and Navy. He is also a member of the Uni- 
versity Club of New York, and was at one time of the Somer- 
set, Boston. 

At the farewell dinner given to him in November of 1897, 
Colonel Hopkins recited some verses of his own which seem 
to embody the enthusiastic esteem in which the commodore is 
held: — 



GEORQE DEWEY. 235 

"Ashore, afloat, on deck, below, 
Or where our bulldogs roar, 
To back a friend or breast a foe, 
We pledge the commodore. 

" We know our honor '11 be sustained 
Where'er his pennant flies ; 
Our rights respected and maintained, 
Whatever power defies." 

Perhaps the admiral has gained a somewhat unjust reputa- 
tion in regard to dress ; he has, at least, proved that the art of 
being spick and span is not at variance with that of a sea 
fighter. He has done more ; he has settled it for all time that 
they go together properly. A neat appearance runs a long 
way toward one's estimate of a man, and if the admiral really 
is as particular to shift into evening clothes at the stroke of 
the bell as he is to change the watch at sea, that is as it should 
be. One of the most vivid recollections which a niece at 
Montpelier retains of her uncle is a long row of boots strung 
outside of the captain's door. 

This peculiarity has served to raise him in the estimation 
of the men forward, who believe that an officer should be 
everything that he requires of his ship. And however they 
may grumble at scrubbing and " bright work," they have no 
use for a captain who lets his ship go. The admiral, in re- 
turn, has a strong sympathy for the enlisted man. " Give him 
a show. He '11 be good now," is a remark he has often been 
heard to make. He bears in mind the hardships of forecastle 
life, and is almost long-suffering of liberty-breakers, foc'sle- 
scrappers, and others who come aboard not quite what they 
should be. Intuitively a leader of men, he has found the 
faintly drawn line between leniency on the one hand and im- 
position on the other. A factor in the Manila victory by no 
means to be despised was the enlisted man, and it may be 
counted upon as certain that the jackies of the Asiatic squad- 
ron were one and all for Dewey. 

A blue jacket who made a cruise with him tells this charac- 
teristic story in the New York Sun. I give it in his own 
words, that the flavor may not be lost : " We had n't been to 
sea with him long before we got next to how he despised a 
liar. One of the petty officers went ashore at Gibraltar, got 



236 LEADERS OF MEN. 

mixed up with the soldiers in the canteens on the hill and 
came off to the ship paralyzed. He went before the captain 
at the mast the next morning. He gave Dewey the 'two- 
beers-and-sunstruck ' yarn. 

"'You're lying, my man,' said Dewey. 'You were very 
drunk. I myself heard you aft in my cabin. I will not have 
my men lie to me. I don't expect to find total abstinence in a 
man-o'-war crew. But I do expect them to tell me the truth, 
and I am going to have them tell me the truth. Had you told 
me candidly that you took a drop too much on your liberty, 
you'd have been forward by this time, for you at least re- 
turned to the ship. For lying you get ten days in irons. Let 
me have the truth hereafter. I am told you are a good sea- 
man. A good seaman has no business lying.' 

"After that there were few men aboard who didn't throw 
themselves on the mercy of the court when they waltzed up to 
the stick before Dewey, and none of us ever lost anything by 
it. He'd have to punish us in accordance with regulations, 
but he had a great way of ordering the release of men he had 
to sentence to the brig, before their time was half worked out." 

When war broke out between this country and Spain, Com- 
modore Dewey at Hong-Kong, found himself in a singular 
and trying position. He was forced to leave British waters, 
and with no coaling station nearer than Honolulu there was 
but one thing to do — take Manila. But the taking of Manila 
involved first the capture and destruction of the Spanish fleet, 
which in turn was comparatively simple after it was once cor- 
nered. A Spanish fleet with a couple of thousand islands to 
dodge among is about as easy to catch as a hog in a ten-acre 
lot. Fortunately for Dewey, however, Montojo evidently had 
the notion that the American commodore had been long 
enough in the tropics to appreciate the blessings of that word 
" to-morrow." 

It is said that Commodore Dewey, counting on this trait of 
the Spanish character as well as upon existing conditions 
when he left Mirs Bay, predicted to a day the time of the 
battle. He also had his mind then made up as to what he 
was going to do, and he carried out his programme without 
a hitch. The harbor of Manila lies on the western side of 
Luzon, the principal island in the Philippine group, and is 
about one hundred and twenty miles in circumference — too 



GEORGE DEWEY. 237 

large to afford adequate shelter for vessels putting in there. 
It was protected by forts at the entrance, the most important 
being upon Corregidor Island, where the squadron arrived 
about eight o'clock on Saturday evening, April 30. The moon 
was up, but no lights showed from the ships until a spark 
from the dispatch boat McCulloch drew the fire of the forts. 
It was returned, and the fleet passed on. Steaming at slow 
speed all night, with the men at full length beside their guns, 
gray dawn disclosed the sleeping city of Manila, and Cavite, 
with its white houses and battlements, and its great arsenal 
close at hand. And there, best news of all after the peril- 
ous darkness through which few men slept, lay the Spanish 
fleet, afloat on the dead water of daybreak. A great shout, 
as of one accord and from one throat, went up from the Amer- 
ican ships : — 

" Remember the Maine ! " 

It is not clear from the reports in what shape the Spaniards 
were discovered or how they maneuvered afterward. Proba- 
bly the Reina Cristina and some of the larger vessels got 
up anchor and formed a line of battle. But that does not 
matter. Suffice it to say that Commodore Dewey, heading 
his own line in the Olyrnpia, steamed past them five times 
with a gradually decreasing range, and practically annihi- 
lated the enemy's fleet, forts and all, in two hours. Then he 
drew off, as the morning was very hot and the men had had 
only a cup of coffee, and ate breakfast. After a little rest he 
returned and finished his work. 

He did not lose a ship nor one of his brave men. The mat- 
ter was as simply and effectively carried out as a bit of 
squadron evolution off the Chesapeake capes. Our officers 
navigated among strange shoals with a sure hand, and the 
superb gunnery that has been our pride since the days of 
John Paul Jones did the rest. The Spanish loss was fearful. 

Neither squadron contained an armored ship. The Ameri- 
can vessels had their vitals covered by what are known as 
protective decks, while but two of the Spanish ships were so 
built. But for all that they might have riddled and sunk some 
of our squadron had they been able to shoot. The little 
Petrel, secure in their wild inaccuracy, danced up to within 
a thousand yards of their forts. 

The results are best told by Admiral Dewey himself. His 



238 LEADERS OF MEN. 

terse cablegrams have become history. At Manila Bay he 
showed the effects of his schooling under Farragut. One of 
Farragut's strongest points was his ability to choose the 
most advantageous distance, even when it brought him within 
a biscuit's throw of the batteries, as at Fort St. Philip. And 
the same fearlessness and cocksureness which led Farragut 
into Mobile Bay and up the Mississippi, sent Dewey straight 
to Manila. 

The service knows Dewey as an ideal head of a fleet. Per- 
fectly courageous, of thoroughly balanced judgment, and 
quick of decision, he has the qualities which carry one to 
fame if opportunity be given. The man and the hour fortu- 
nately came together, and the country is the richer in another 
brilliant page of history and another heroic figure. 

Whatever this war has cost or may cost, it will be repaid 
to the country in the very wonderful influence upon the young 
people of our land, who will surely grow to manhood and wo- 
manhood with exalted views of patriotism and duty, which it 
is worth almost any sacrifice to have instilled. 

Dewey in this light stands for far more than the brilliant 
victor in a famous fight, or as the author of a proud page of 
history. His career has given a lofty impetus to the young, 
which will bear noble fruit in nobler aspiration. He has be- 
come one of the most valued possessions which a nation can 
have — a national hero. After all, the Romans read more 
deeply into the human heart, and into the impalpable causes 
which sway humanity, when they apotheosized their great 
men, than we are apt to grant. Washington, Nelson, Far- 
ragut, and the others on the long list of men of heroic deeds 
stand for aspiration and noble planes of life and thought. 
Every man added is the world's gain, and to such a list must 
be added the name of Dewey. 

In a summary of the characteristics of Admiral Dewey 
must not be omitted his never-failing consideration of others ; 
his avoidance of act or word that suggests the importance of 
his own unique position ; his finesse of manner and speech, 
and man-of-the-world nature mingled with a directness and 
force of speech and rugged sailor spirit which show them- 
selves as conditions demand ; and, finally, his everyday, 
matter-of-fact method of living, acting, and talking 

There is no better term than " horse-sense," though it be 




ADMIRAL DEWEY AT MANILA. 



COMMON SENSE. 241 

homely, to express the strongest quality in the make-up of the 
Admiral. He knows that the use of common sense in all acts 
is the greatest influence for success, and he never fails to em- 
ploy the good stock of it he possesses. After all, in life, that 
is what a man needs more to meet every emergency than any- 
thing else. 

COMMON SENSE. 

,OMMON sense is the most uncommon kind of sense," 
said Dr. Emmons ; and a truer remark was never 
made. It is the kind of sense for which we have the 
most use ; and, therefore, it ought to be more common than 
it is. But the schools cannot furnish it. Teachers cannot 
teach it. Pupils must possess it in the natural way, by birth- 
right, or cultivate it by sharp observation. It is what some 
writers call "tact," or is closely related to it. 

It is told of four men who met in Australia, that three of 
them were college graduates who worked on a sheep farm for 
the fourth, who was too ignorant to read and write, or to keep 
accounts. One of the three employees had taken a degree at 
Oxford, another at Cambridge, and the third at a German 
university ; and here they were, at last, on a sheep farm ! 
College educated to take care of brutes ! Evidently.they had 
missed the mark. Educated to be leaders of thought, they 
became drivers of sheep. They had failed in every undertak- 
ing for want of common sense, and finally became the serv- 
ants of a man who knew as little about school as they did 
about the common affairs of life. But the ranchman had 
a practical turn of mind, and had become wealthy by his 
business. Without an education, he had accomplished more 
by his common sense than his employees had, though drilled 
in the curriculum of famous universities. The fact shows 
that education does not create common sense. It was a born 
quality in the ranchman, but left out of the students' make-up, 
and the best university could not supply the deficiency. Cul- 
ture against ignorance, the college against the ranch; and 
the ranch beat every time ; not because the ranchman knew 
more, nor because he knew less, but because of the practical 
use he made of what he did know. It is no argument against 
the highest education, but it is an argument for the culti- 



242 LEADERS OF MEN. 

vation of common sense. All the knowledge in the world is 
of little use to him who does not know how to use it. 

A professor of mathematics in a New England college was 
called a "bookworm." Books were all he knew. His knowl- 
edge of common things was very limited indeed. One day, as 
he was going out, his wife asked him to call at the store and 
get some coffee. Before returning he called for the coffee. 
"How much will you have?" inquired the merchant. The 
inquiry was unexpected by the professor, and related to a 
practical matter about which he knew nothing, so he answered, 
after a little, " Well, I declare ; my wife did not say, but I 
think a bushel will be enough." The fact does not discount 
mathematics, but it does plead eloquently for acquaintance 
with common things. 

Dr. Emmons, who made the wise remark quoted at the 
beginning of this paper, had very little knowledge of the com- 
mon affairs of life. He did not know how to harness or un- 
harness a horse. He was never known to attempt to harness 
one ; but, on one occasion, in peculiar circumstances, he did 
unharness the faithful old family horse, but in doing so took 
the harness entirely to pieces, unbuckling every strap, so that 
it took his hired man some time to put it together again. The 
hired man said, "That horse was too much unharnessed." 

How can we account for such lack of common sense ? The 
author could scarcely credit a fact like the foregoing had he 
not seen it with his own eyes. How can it be explained ? In 
this case, another incident will answer. We were getting the 
doctor's best hay into the barn. There were three loads of it. 
On reaching the barn with the second load, the hired man 
observed a shower coming up very rapidly, and he said to the 
doctor, who was near by, " The other load will get wet unless 
the boy has some one to help him take it away." The doc- 
tor took the hint, but answered promptly, " Making hay is 
your business, and making sermons mine." He went to his 
study, and the hay got wet. Here was singleness of purpose 
with a vengeance. Dr. Emmons did not believe in knowing 
how to do but one thing, so he gave common sense no show 
at all. 

Such examples illustrate the importance of becoming 
familiar with common things, and the process of doing so 
cultivates common sense. In this way men become practical. 



COMMON SENSE. 243 

They learn, thereby, not only what to do, but how to do it ; 
and the former is of little value without the latter. 

The schools give learning, but experience in the daily busi- 
ness of life gives wisdom, and wisdom is better than learn- 
ing. Abraham Lincoln's hard experience in the backwoods, 
and his struggles to enter the legal profession, were of more 
value to him than a college diploma. These qualified him to 
conquer secession, and steer the ship of state through the 
roughest political waters ever sailed over. A well-trained 
mind, rather than learning, makes a great statesman, and his 
was well trained by the stern necessities and experiences of 
early life. 

Gibbon says, " Every person has two educations, — one he 
receives from others, and the other he gives to himself." 
Doctor Emmons had only one, that he received " from others," 
— the college. Lincoln had only one, that which he gave to 
himself in the practical things of life. Both might have 
accomplished more by the two educations combined. 

General Grant was a " matter-of-fact man " — that is, a 
man of sound common sense. General Sherman recognized 
this dominating quality in him when he wrote that famous 
letter that contained these words : " My only point of doubt 
was in your knowledge of grand strategy, and in books of 
science and history ; but I confess your common sense seems 
to have supplied all these." Common sense did more for 
Grant and the country than whole libraries of military science 
and tactics. It studied "details." In like manner, the wis- 
dom of Napoleon and Wellington compassed the smallest 
matters, — " shoes, camp-kettles, biscuit, horse-fodder, and the 
exact speed at which bullocks were to be driven." 

Common sense adapts men to circumstances, and makes 
them equal to the occasion. Without it, they "may say even 
their prayers out of time," and may aspire to take the second 
step before the first has been taken. For this need, Dean 
Swift nearly starved in an obscure country parish, while Staf- 
ford, his blockhead classmate with practical sense, reveled in 
wealth and popularity. Beethoven, the great musical com- 
poser, exposed himself to ridicule when he sent three hundred 
florins to the store to pay for a pair of shirts and six hand- 
kerchiefs. He lacked common sense in common affairs. 
When a merchant acts like a statesman, it is proof that he 



244 LEADERS OF MEN. 

has common sense, but when a statesman acts like an inferior 
merchant, it is proof that he has none. Wellington "never 
lost a battle because he was a good business man," his biog- 
rapher said. That is, he had common sense. It was so with 
Gerritt Smith, in a smaller way, and in everyday affairs, 
when he settled a difficulty between two of his laborers about 
milking a cow, by taking the pail and milking her himself. 
It closed hostilities on his farm as effectually as Wellington's 
skillful tactics closed the conflict between the English and 
French at Waterloo. Common sense that successfully manip- 
ulates the smaller things of life, is competent to utilize the 
greater ; therefore, have it at any cost. 

Some one has said that "more men of ordinary than of ex- 
traordinary ability possess common sense." Whether true or 
not, one of the most famous men of science that ever lived, 
Baron Humboldt, possessed this attribute in a high degree. 
His judgment was equally good in great and little things. 
He was familiar with the common affairs of life, as well as 
with the most difficult problems of science. He was always 
sensible and wise. His opinions, in consequence, were of 
great value. He was the author of "Kosmos," and other 
great works, in which are manifest both "his common and his 
uncommon sense." To the personal influence of Humboldt is 
due nearly all that the Prussian government did for science, 
in the latter part of his life. Agassiz said of him, " The in- 
fluence he exerted upon science is incalculable. With him 
ends a great period in the history of science, a period to 
which Cuvier, Laplace, Arago, Gay-Lussac, De Candolle, and 
Robert Brown belonged." 



CHAPTER XI. 

ALBERT JEREMIAH BEVERIDGE. 

ON WHAT BRINGS SUCCESS HIS EARLY STRUGGLES HOW HE COM- 
PLETED HIS COLLEGE COURSE — -A HARD WORKER AND BRILLIANT SPEAKER 

IN COLLEGE PREPARES FOR THE BAR HIS RAPID RISE AS A LAWYER 

ENTERS PUBLIC LIFE MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS FORENSIC POWER ■ 

CAREER IN POLITICS ELECTION TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE — -PHILIP- 
PINE SPEECH. TACT. 



There are so many elements of success in business, in 
professional life, in everyday pursuits, that I feel incom- 
petent even to name them. I don't believe 
there is any chief element. Ability, tact, 
absolute integrity, unflagging perseverance 
that never gives up, good health, creating 
and organizing ability — a full dozen of ele- 
ments there are, without any of which a 
man would be likely to make a failure. 

Nor must we forget the importance of 
work, labor, incessant labor. The Latin 
adage has it, "Labor conquers all things." 
There is much truth in that. No work for 
the world, for humanity, even for ourselves, has ever been 
done with ease. Even our bread must we eat by the sweat 
of our faces. 





LBERT J. BEVERIDGE, United States Senator from 
Indiana, was born on a farm in Highland county, 
Ohio, October 6, 1862. During the war his father's 
fortune was swept away by financial reverses, and from 
early youth Albert was inured to a life of toil. As a boy he 
worked on a farm as a laborer ; at fourteen he was in the em- 
ploy of a railroad contractor driving an old-fashioned scraper 



246 LEADERS OF MEN. 

in constructing the roadbed, and at sixteen he was in charge 
of a logging camp. To-day he is prouder that he is an ex- 
pert logger than of any other acquirement. Courage and in- 
dustry characterized his career from the beginning. He is a 
self-made man in the broadest sense and meaning of the term. 
His advance has been rapid and steady. 

From his meager income as a day laborer he saved enough 
money to enter De Pauw University, from which he was 
graduated in 188G. There the same industry, perseverance, 
ambition, and thirst for knowledge which characterized his 
early youth soon won for him recognition and distinction. 
During his entire college course he supported himself by the 
prizes he took and from work he did in vacation. He was an 
indefatigable worker and delighted in intellectual and espe- 
cially in forensic contests. Naturally gifted with a brilliant 
intellect and keen discrimination, he gained a reputation as 
an orator early in his college career. He was a splendid stu- 
dent, especially well informed in history ; ardent and thorough 
in his examinations of public questions, intense and untiring 
in his eagerness to win in everything he undertook. 

As an orator he was regarded in the college from which he 
graduated as possessing the art in the highest degree. He 
won the State oratorical contest as a representative of De 
Pauw, and the Interstate contest held at Columbus, Ohio, in 
1885. As a college politician, he was in charge of his "fac- 
tion," as college political parties were called, and created and 
maintained an organization that never sustained a single 
defeat. 

In 1886 Mr. Beveridge entered the law office of McDonald 
& Butler at Indianapolis as a clerk. There his ability, in- 
dustry, and close application to business soon won for him the 
confidence of his employers, and he was intrusted with much 
of the important law business of the firm. In 1887 he was 
admitted to the Indianapolis bar. In 1888 he was married to 
Katharine M. Langsdale, daughter of George J. Langsdale of 
Greencastle, Indiana. From the day of their marriage till the 
time of her death in 1900, his wife was a noble inspiration to 
his ambition, and a wise and safe counselor in all his legal 
and political achievements. The same year in which he was 
married, Mr. Beveridge entered upon the practice of his pro- 
fession on his own account in Indianapolis. In that, as in 



ALBERT JEREMIAH BEVERIDGE. 247 

everything else in which he has been engaged, his progress 
was rapid and he soon took rank as one of the leading at- 
torneys of the Indiana bar. 

Since his college days his fame as an orator has grown, 
and he is now regarded as one of the foremost orators in the 
country. This talent won for him distinction in the law and 
honors in the field of politics. He thinks and speaks with 
amazing rapidity. He is ready in debate, quick to see the 
force of a point made by an opponent, remarkably resource- 
ful and dexterous in bringing to the front the argument that 
is necessary to oppose it, which is always delivered with pecu- 
liar forcefulness and broadside effect. He has a sympathetic 
voice ; is forceful, impressive, and magnetic in manner, and 
at times in the delivery of a climax is intensely dramatic. 

The services of Mr. Beveridge as a political speaker have 
been in demand since 1884, when he participated in the cam- 
paign in Indiana. In recent years he has responded to 
invitations to deliver addresses upon a number of important 
occasions and on various topics. 

In 1894, 1896, and 1898 Senator Beveridge took the stump 
for the Republican party in Indiana, and in each of the three 
campaigns made a most brilliant and effective speaking tour 
of the state, contributing largely to the success of the party. 
At the close of the campaign in 1898, his friends announced 
him as a candidate for the United States Senate. Notwith- 
standing the fact that he had never before been a candidate 
for office, his reputation as a lawyer, speaker, and political 
counselor had attracted such universal attention that his 
many friends and political admirers in the state came to 
his support, and in a joint caucus of the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the General Assembly of Indiana on 
January 17, 1899, he was declared the caucus nominee to suc- 
ceed David Turpie in the United States Senate. At the time 
of his election to the highest legislative branch of the govern- 
ment he was little past thirty-six years of age and was one of 
the youngest members of the Senate. 

Soon after his election to the Senate he went to the Philip- 
pines to study the conditions in the islands, in order that he 
might be informed on important questions involved in the 
policy of dealing with territory that came into the possession 
of the United States as a result of the War with Spain. 



248 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Senator Beveridge was one 
of the youngest members of the Senate when he entered the 
upper branch of Congress, his ability and industry soon won 
for him a place among the leaders of that body. Having 
made a special study of insular affairs, a thorough investiga- 
tion of our commercial relations with foreign countries, and* 
the conditions in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, his 
utterances on questions of great import at that time were 
accepted as authority. On January 9, 1900, he delivered his 
first speech in the Senate. His subject was the "Policy Re- 
garding the Philippines," and the speech was the most mas- 
terful presentation of the subject yet made. It was prophetic 
in character, and events have proved the wisdom of his utter- 
ances. In fact, the logic of events has done much to strengthen 
Senator Beveridge's position on questions of great moment to 
the country. His first speeches in the Senate on the policy 
regarding the Philippines and Porto Rico were regarded at 
the time by conservative Republicans as radical, and by 
Democrats as dangerous. But the passage of the Cuban and 
Philippine Resolutions by the Senate and House on February 
27, 1901, was a vindication of Senator Beveridge's position on 
the questions involved in dealing with those islands previous 
to the passage of the resolutions. 

His Philippine speech was widely circulated, universally 
commented upon, and attracted the attention of politicians 
and students of events throughout the civilized world. 

TACT. 

ClP^OR success in life tact is more important than talent, but 
|tT it is not easily acquired by those to whom it does not 
come naturally. Still, something can be done by con- 
sidering what others would probably wish. 

Never lose a chance of giving pleasure. Be courteous to 
all. " Civility," said Lady Montagu, " costs nothing and 
buys everything."* It buys much, indeed, which no money 
will purchase. Try then to win every one you meet. " Win 
their hearts," said Burleigh to Queen Elizabeth, " and you 
have all men's hearts and purses." 

Tact often succeeds where force fails. Lilly quotes the old 
fable of the Sun and the Wind: "It is pretily noted of a 
contention betweene the Winde and the Sunne, who should 







SENATOR ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE. 



TACT. 251 

have the victorye. A Gentleman walking abroad, the Winde 
thought to blowe off his cloake, which with great Wastes and 
blusterings striving to unloose it, made it to stick faster to his 
backe, for the more the Winde increased the closer his cloake 
clapt to his body : then the Sunne, shining with his hot beams, 
began to warm this Gentleman, who, waxing somewhat faint 
in this faire weather, did not only put off his cloake but his 
coate, which the Winde, perceiving, yeelded the conquest to 
the Sunne." 

Always remember that men are more easily led than 
driven, and that in any case it is better to guide than to coerce. 

"What thou wilt 
Thou rather shalt enforce it with thy smile, 
Than hew to't with thy sword." 

It is a good rule in politics, "pas trop gouverner." 

Try to win, and still more to deserve, the confidence of 
those with whom you are brought in contact. Many a man 
has owed his influence far more to character than to ability. 
Sydney Smith used to say of Francis Horner, who, without 
holding any high office, exercised a remarkable personal influ- 
ence in the councils of the nation, that he had the Ten Com- 
mandments stamped upon his countenance. 

Try to meet the wishes of others as far as you rightly and 
wisely can ; but do not be afraid to say " No." 

Anybody can say " Yes,"though it is not every one who 
can say "Yes" pleasantly ; but it is far more difficult to say 
" No." Many a man has been ruined because he could not do 
so. Plutarch tells us that the inhabitants of Asia Minor came 
to be vassals only for not having been able to pronounce one 
syllable, which is "No." And if in the conduct of life it is 
essential to say "No," it is scarcely less necessary to be able 
to say it pleasantly. We ought always to endeavor that 
everybody with whom we have any transactions should feel 
that it is a pleasure to do business with us and should wish to 
come again. Business is a matter of sentiment and feeling 
far more than many suppose ; every one likes being treated 
with kindness and courtesy, and a frank pleasant manner 
will often clinch a bargain more effectually than a half per 
cent. 

Almost anyone may make himself pleasant if he wishes. 



252 LEADERS OF MEN. 

" The desire of pleasing is at least half the art of doing it ; " 
and, on the other hand, no one will please others who does not 
desire to do so. If you do not acquire this great gift while 
you are young, you will find it much more difficult after- 
wards. Many a man has owed his outward success in life far 
more to good manners than to any solid merit ; while, on the 
other hand, many a worthy man, with a good heart and kind 
intentions, makes enemies merely by the roughness of his 
manner. To be able to please, is, moreover, itself a great 
pleasure. Try it and you will not be disappointed. 

Be wary and keep cool. A cool head is as necessary as a 
warm heart. In any negotiations, steadiness and coolness 
are invaluable ; while they will often carry you in safety 
through times of danger and difficulty. 

If you come across others less clever than you are, you 
have no right to look down on them. There is nothing more 
to be proud of in inheriting great ability, than a great estate. 
The only credit in either case is if they are used well. More- 
over, many a man is much cleverer than he seems. It is 
far more easy to read books than men. In this the eyes are 
a great guide. "When the eyes say one thing and the 
tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of 
the first." 

Do not trust too much to professions of extreme good will. 
Men do not fall in love with men, nor women with women, at 
first sight. If a comparative stranger protests and promises 
too much, do not place implicit confidence in what he says. 
If not insincere, he probably says more than he means, and 
perhaps wants something himself from you. Do not therefore 
believe that every one is a friend, merely because he pro- 
fesses to be so ; nor assume too lightly that anyone is an 
enemy. 

We flatter ourselves by claiming to be rational and intel- 
lectual beings, but it would be a great mistake to suppose that 
men are always guided by reason. We are strange, incon- 
sistent creatures, and we act quite as often, perhaps oftener, 
from prejudice or passion. The result is that you are more 
likely to carry men with you by enlisting their feelings than 
by convincing their reason. This applies, moreover, to com- 
panies of men even more than to individuals. 

Argument is always a little dangerous. It often leads to 



TACT. 253 

coolness and misunderstandings. You may gain your argu- 
ment and lose your friend, which is probably a bad bargain. 
If you must argue, admit all you can, but try to show that 
some point has been overlooked. Very few people know 
when they have had the worst of an argument, and if they 
do, they do not like it. Moreover, if they know they are 
beaten, it does not follow that they are convinced. Indeed it 
is perhaps hardly going too far to say that it is very little use 
trying to convince anyone by argument. State your case as 
clearly and concisely as possible, and if you shake his confi- 
dence in his own opinion it is as much as you can expect. It 
is the first step gained. 

Conversation is an art in itself, and it is by no means those 
who have most to tell who are the best talkers ; though it is 
certainly going too far to say with Lord Chesterfield that 
"there are very few captains of foot who are not much better 
company than ever were Descartes or Sir Isaac Newton." 

I will not say that it is as difficult to be a good listener as a 
good talker, but it is certainly by no means easy, and very 
nearly as important. You must not receive everything that is 
said as a critic or a judge, but suspend your judgment, and try 
to enter into the feelings of the speaker. If you are kind and 
sympathetic your advice will be often sought, and you will 
have the satisfaction of feeling that you have been a help and 
comfort to many in distress and trouble. 

Do not expect too much attention when you are young. 
Sit, listen, and look on. Bystanders proverbially see most of 
the game ; and you can notice what is going on just as well, 
if not better, when you are not noticed yourself. It is almost 
as if you possessed a cap of invisibility. 

To save themselves the trouble of thinking, which is to 
most people very irksome, men will often take you at your 
own valuation. "On ne vaut dans ce monde," says La 
Bruyere, " que ce que Von veut valoir." 

Do not make enemies for yourself ; you can make nothing 
worse. 

" Answer not a fool according to his folly, 
Lest thou also be like unto him." 

Remember that " a soft answer turneth away wrath "; but 
even an angry answer is less foolish than a sneer ; nine men 



254 LEADERS OF MEN. 

out of ten would rather be abused, or even injured, than 
laughed at. They will forget almost anything sooner than 
being made ridiculous. 

"It is pleasanter to be deceived than to be undeceived." 
Trasilaus, an Athenian, went mad, and thought that all the 
ships in the Piraeus belonged to him, but, having been cured 
by Crito, he complained bitterly that he had been robbed. " It 
is folly," says Lord Chesterfield, "to lose a friend for a jest : 
but, in my mind, it is not a much less degree of folly to make 
an enemy of an indifferent and neutral person for the sake of 
a bon mot." 

Do not be too ready to suspect a slight, or think you are 
being laughed at — to say with Scrub in Stratagem, "I am 
sure they talked of me, for they laughed consumedly." On 
the other hand, if you are laughed at, try to rise above it. If 
you can join in heartily, you will turn the tables and gain, 
rather than lose. Every one likes a man who can enjoy a 
laugh at his own expense — and justly so, for it shows good 
humor and good sense. If you laugh at yourself, other people 
will not laugh at you. 

Have the courage of your opinions. You must expect to 
be laughed at sometimes, and it will do you no harm. There 
is nothing ridiculous in seeming to be what you really are, but 
a good deal in affecting to be what you are not. People often 
distress themselves, get angry, and drift into a coolness with 
others, for some imaginary grievance. 

Be frank, and yet reserved. Do not talk much about your- 
self ; neither of yourself, for yourself, nor against yourself : 
but let other people talk about themselves, as much as they 
will. If they do so it is because they like it, and they will 
think all the better of you for listening to them. At any rate 
do not show a man, unless it is your duty, that you think he is 
a fool or a blockhead. If you do, he has good reason to com- 
plain. You may be wrong in your judgment ; he will, and 
with some justice, form the same opinion of you. 

Burke once said that he could not draw an indictment 
against a nation, and it is very unwise as well as unjust to 
attack any class or profession. Individuals often forget and 
forgive, but societies never do. Moreover, even individuals 
will forgive an injury much more readily than an insult. 
Nothing rankles so much as being made ridiculous. You will 



TACT. 255 

never gain your object by putting people out of humor, or 
making them look ridiculous. 

Goethe, in his " Conversations with Eckermann," warmly 
commended Englishmen, because their entrance and bearing 
in society were so confident and quiet that one would think 
they were everywhere the masters, and the whole world 
belonged to them. Eckermann replied that surely young 
Englishmen were no cleverer, better educated, or better 
hearted than young Germans. "That is not the point," said 
Goethe ; " their superiority does not lie in such things, neither 
does it lie in their birth and fortune : it lies precisely in their 
having the courage to be what nature made them. There is 
no halfness about them. They are complete men. Sometimes 
complete fools also, that I heartily admit ; but even that is 
something, and has its weight." 

In any business or negotiations, be patient. Many a man 
would rather you heard his story than granted his request; 
many an opponent has been tired out. 

Above all, never lose your temper, and if you do, at any 
rate hold your tongue, and try not to show it. 



For 



" Cease from anger and forsake wrath : 
Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil." 

" A soft answer turneth away wrath : 
But grievous words stir up anger." 



Never intrude where you are not wanted. There is plenty 
of room elsewhere. "Have I not three kingdoms?" said 
King James to the Fly, " and yet thou must needs fly in my 
eye." 

Some people seem to have the knack of saying the wrong 
thing, of alluding to any subject which revives sad memories, 
or rouses differences of opinion. 

No branch of science is more useful than the knowledge 
of men. It is of the utmost importance to be able to decide 
wisely, not only to know whom you can trust, and whom you 
cannot, but how far, and in what, you can trust them. This 
is by no means easy. It is most important to choose well 
those who are to work with you, and under you ; to put the 
square man in the square hole and the round man in the 
round hole. 



256 LEADERS OF MEN. 

"If you suspect a man do not employ him : if you employ 
him, do not suspect him." 

Those who trust are of tener right than those who mistrust. 

Confidence should be complete but not blind. Merlin lost 
his life, wise as he was, for imprudently yielding to Vivien's 
appeal to trust her "all in all or not at all." 

Be always discreet. Keep your own counsel. If you do 
not keep it for yourself, you cannot expect others to keep it 
for you. "The mouth of a wise man is in his heart ; the heart 
of a fool is in his mouth, for what he knoweth or thinketh he 
uttereth." 

Use your head. Consult your reason. It is not infallible, 
but you will be less likely to err if you do. 

Speech is, or ought to be silvern, but silence is golden. 

Many people talk, not because they have anything to say, 
but for the mere love of talking. Talking should be an exer- 
cise of the brain, rather than of the tongue. Talkativeness, 
the love of talking for talking's sake, is almost fatal to suc- 
cess. Men are "plainly hurried on, in the heat of their talk, to 
say quite different things from what they first intended, and 
which they afterwards wish unsaid ; or improper things which 
they had no other end in saying, but only to find employment 
to their tongue. . . . And this unrestrained volubility and 
wantonness in speech is the occasion of numberless evils and 
vexations in life. It begets resentment in him who is the 
subject of it ; sows the seed of strife and dissension amongst 
others ; and inflames little disgusts and offenses, which, if 
let alone, would wear away of themselves." 

" C'est une grande misere," says La Bruyere, "que de 
n' avoir pas assez $ esprit pour bien parler, ni assez de judg- 
ment pour se taire." Plutarch tells a story of Demaratus, 
that being asked in a certain assembly whether he held his 
tongue because he was a fool, or for want of words, he 
replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue." "Seest thou," said 
Solomon, 

" Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? 
There is more hope of a fool than of him." 

Never try to show your own superiority : few things 
annoy people more than being made to feel small. 

Do not be too positive in your statements. You may be 



TACT. 257 

wrong, however sure you feel. Memory plays us curious 
tricks, and both ears and eyes are sometimes deceived. Our 
prejudices, even the most cherished, may have no secure 
foundation. Moreover, even if you are right, you will lose 
nothing by disclaiming too great certainty. 

In action, again, never make too sure, and never throw 
away a chance. "There's many a slip'twixt the cup and 
the lip." 

It has been said that everything comes to those who know 
how to wait ; and when the opportunity does come, seize it. 

" He that wills not when he may ; 
When he will, he shall have nay." 

If you once let your opportunity go, you may never have 
another. 

"There is a tide in the affairs of man, 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune : 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 
On such a full sea are we now afloat ; 
And we must take the current when it serves, 
Or lose our venture." 

Be cautious, but not over-cautious ; do not be too much 
afraid of making a mistake; "a man who never makes a 
mistake, will make nothing." 

Always dress neatly : we must dress, therefore we should 
do it w T ell ; not extravagantly, either in time or money, but 
taking care to have good materials. It is astonishing how 
much people judge by dress. Of those you come across, many 
go mainly by appearances in any case, and many more have 
in your case nothing but appearances to go by. The eyes and 
ears open the heart, and a hundred people will see, for one 
who will know you. Moreover, if you are careless and untidy 
about yourself, it is a fair, though not absolute, conclusion 
that you will be careless about other things also. 

When you are in society study those who have the best 
and pleasantest manners. ''Manner," says the old proverb 
with much truth, if with some exaggeration, "maketh Man," 
and "a pleasing figure is a perpetual letter of recommenda- 
tion." "Merit and knowledge will not gain hearts, though 
they will secure them when gained. Engage the eyes by your 



258 LEADERS OF MEN. 

address, air, and motions ; soothe the ears by the elegance 
and harmony of your diction ; and the heart will certainly (I 
should rather say probably) follow." Every one has eyes and 
ears, but few have a sound judgment. The world is a stage. 
We are all players, and every one knows how much the suc- 
cess of a piece depends upon the way it is acted. 

Lord Chesterfield, speaking of his son, says, "They tell me 
he is loved wherever he is known, and I am very glad of it ; 
but I would have him to be liked before he is known, and 

loved afterwards You know very little of the 

nature of mankind, if you take those things to be of little 
consequence ; one cannot be too attentive to them ; it is they 
that always engage the heart, of which the understanding is 
commonly the bubble." 

The Graces help a man in life almost as much as the 
Muses. We all know that " one man may steal a horse, while 
another may not look over a hedge ; " and why ? because the 
one will do it pleasantly, the other disagreeably. Horace tells 
us that even Youth and Mercury, the gods of Eloquence and 
of the Arts, were powerless without the Graces. 



PART TWO. 
LEADERS IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HENRY WATTERSON. 



ON THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS HI9 PERSONALITY A MAN OF GREAT 

VERSATILITY METHODS OF WORK BIRTH AND EARLY SURROUNDINGS — 

EDUCATION THE "NEW ERA" NEWSPAPER CAREER IN NEW YORK 

WAR CORRESPONDENT BECOMES EDITOR OF THE LOUISVILLE "COURIER- 
JOURNAL" SOME DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED HIS NEW POLICY WHAT 

POLITICS MEANS TO HIM — MEMBER OF CONGRESS — AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER 

— HOME LIFE WHAT LEADS TO SUCCESS IN JOURNALISM. COURAGE AND 

SELF-CONFIDENCE. 



Among' the many elements of success I would particularly 
emphasize that of personality, as it is called. This attracting 
and repelling something in men, is a thing 
apart ; a light that cannot be hid. As little 
can it be described, being in its nature vari- 
able. Often it is composed of one part talent 
and two parts character ; and he who has it 
may, in spite of other deficiencies, command 

M: » Large successes are attainable by the 

Jm union of aptitude and concentration of pur- 

Jfl I] pose, coincident with opportunity; the meet- 

ing of the man and the occasion ; the suiting 



of the work to the action, the action to the work ; intelligent 
self-confidence ; unflagging courage ; absolute probity. 



\^Cm^i O^HjAM^ s 



2_^>l 



T seems trite and inadequate to describe Henry Watterson 
as a genius ; yet that is the only term general enough in 
character to explain such a man. Unquestionably he is 
one of the most brilliant of American journalists. But this 
assertion, comprehensive as it is, by no means conveys any 
idea of the universality of his attainments. He has won 
distinction in the highest politics of his time. He is an orator, 



260 LEADERS OF MEN. 

a man of letters, a political and social economist, a*n accom- 
plished man of the world. He is distinctly of the literary and 
artistic temperament, mercurial, emotional, imaginative ; yet 
he possesses many of the practical qualities not commonly 
allied to these. 

In attempting anything like a complete portrait of Henry 
Watterson, one hesitates before the complexity of the subject. 
His universality is as remarkable as any single trait in his 
character. One feels the human side of him, his personality, 
intensely, and is drawn closely to him or quite repelled. Con- 
sciously or unconsciously it is he who exerts the influence 
either way, the other person being merely the recipient. With 
his intimates he is a most lovable man ; in the club which he 
frequents at home, to all the younger men he is their affec- 
tionate " Marse Henry." A woman in tenderness, a thought- 
ful friend, full of the sunshine of life, having room in his 
composition for all save malice, he is yet fierce and warlike in 
his opposition to wrong. He has that sensuousness which 
accompanies a fanciful and poetic imagination, relieved by a 
loftiness of purpose and a virility that characterize all his 
utterances. He is a sentimentalist, yet a man of affairs ; 
loving the graces of life, yet living in and enjoying the strife 
of partisan politics ; impetuous and emotional, yet purposeful 
and far-seeing. 

A writer of pure English, his phrases have come to be a 
part of our language. Who does not know the Star-eyed 
Goddess who was born on a night in 1884, in Washington — 
born in the labor of a dispatch — and who leaped straightway 
upon the telegraph wire to appear refulgent next morning in 
the Courier-Journal ? A less poetic, but equally terse expres- 
sion is the " tariff for revenue only," whose absolute finality 
it has been sought so often to escape. " Between the sherry 
and the champagne " was coined in a letter from Washington 
containing the first public intimation that Grant would be a 
candidate for a third term. It was meant to cover the wild- 
ness of the suggestion. 

Journalist, statesman, orator, musician, student of belles 
lettres and the arts, at times an indomitable worker, at times 
an equally vigorous player,— Mr. Watterson is all of these. 
Into all he puts the strong personality that holds attention. 
Having suffered nearly all his life from a seriously defective 



HENRY WATTERSON. 261 

vision, he nevertheless reads with unequaled rapidity. He 
seems to take in a whole page at a glance. In the office his 
amanuensis reading to him from the "proofs" is rarely per- 
mitted to finish a paragraph before a gesture hurries him on 
to the next. Yet Mr. Watterson has absorbed and digested 
the article. In the same way does he read men or reach a 
conclusion on a question of public policy. Back of it all has 
been much hard work, close application, earnest study, and a 
wide range of information about current affairs. 

After all, is not this multiplicity, this complexity, just what 
Mr. Watterson is — the journalist ? For what is the journal 
but the epitome of life ? True, he is a journalist of an old 
school, the last great survivor of that intensely individual 
journalism in which the newspaper took its power from the 
editor, and not the editor from his paper. It was the school 
of Raymond and of Greeley, of the elder Bennett and the 
elder Bowles, and of Mr. Watterson's immediate predecessor, 
George D. Prentice. In this school was Watterson trained, 
and he is its last great exponent. 

By birth, instinct, and early surroundings, Mr. Watterson 
is a " newspaper man." He was born in Washington, Feb- 
ruary 16, 1840, his father being the late Harvey M. Watterson, 
who, two years before, had succeeded James K. Polk as a 
member of Congress from Tennessee. The elder Watterson 
was a journalist. When elected to Congress he owned and 
was editing a paper at Shelbyville, Tenn. From 1845 to 1850 
he owned and edited the Nashville Union. Mr. Watterson's 
ancestry was Scotch-Irish, which accounts for several things. 
His father was a strong man, upright, affable, and with 
abundant common sense. But it is from his mother that he 
derives his remarkable perceptivity and imagination. She 
was a woman of superior mental qualities, and her insight 
was as keen and penetrating as her son's. 

From 1852 to 1856 young Watterson was sedulously at 
school, at the Academy of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsyl- 
vania. At school he was the editor of the school paper, The 
Ciceronian. But the trouble with his eyes caused his removal 
from school, and his education was completed by private 
tutors at McMinnville, Tenn. His father had a summer home 
there, and gave the lad a printing office outfit. The New 
Era made its appearance in October, 1856, and for two years 



262 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Henry Watterson published his paper and pursued his classi- 
cal studies in this little mountain town. He says he still 
remembers the first article he ever wrote ; it was a bugle- 
note article, a call to the party. In speaking of it he says : 
"When I saw the whole article had been copied next day by 
the Nashville American, then the great paper of that coun- 
try, I could n't sleep much that night ; but when I saw it in 
the Washington Union I was knocked out completely. The 
article went the rounds of Democratic papers all over the 
country.'" This happened when he was sixteen years of age. 

Two years later, at the age of eighteen, he sought a wider 
field. In the latter half of 1858, he was in New York, where 
he wrote for Harpers Weekly, just established, The Times, 
and other papers. With Whitelaw Reid and John Russell 
Young, he was getting his training in the school of Ray- 
mond and Forney. In the winter of 1859, he returned to 
Washington, and there did much miscellaneous newspaper 
work. 

Such was the training received by Henry Watterson, when 
the outbreak of the war directed his fortunes to another field. 
He had acquired many worldly graces, had already a large 
acquaintance with men, and, being a close and apt student, 
possessed an unusual equipment for a successful career. 

He returned to Tennessee, the home of his people, and in 
October, 1861, he was made assistant editor of the Nashville 
Banner. Early in 1862, Nashville was evacuated by the Con- 
federates. Watterson, to use his own phrase, leaped into an 
empty saddle as Forrest's cavalry swept by, and that was the 
end of editing until October, 1862, when Tire Rebel, a daily 
paper, made its appearance at Chattanooga, with Henry 
Watterson in charge. It was the soldiers' newspaper, and 
naturally was not long-lived, making its last appearance 
at Chattanooga, September 9, 1863. An attempt was made 
to revive it in a small Georgia town, but with this venture 
Mr. Watterson had nothing to do. The story that The Rebel 
became a camp follower is an error. Mr. Watterson returned 
to the army, serving under Polk and in the Johnston-Sher- 
man campaign. 

"I came out of the war," Mr. Watterson said, "like many 
of the young fellows of the South, a very picked bird, indeed. 
In order to escape the humiliation of borrowing from a North- 



HENRY WATTERSON. 263 

ern uncle, whose politics I did not approve, I went with ray- 
watch to an uncle who had no politics at all, and got fifty 
dollars on it. Along with two blanket-mates, who were as 
poor as myself, I started, or, rather, revived the publication 
of an old, suspended newspaper at Nashville. Nothing could 
withstand the energy and ardor which we three threw into 
this. When we began, there were nine daily papers strug- 
gling for a footing in the little Tennessee capital. At the end 
of a year there were but two, and of these two ours had 
two thirds of the business. After two years, I was called to 
Louisville to succeed George D. Prentice as editor of the old 
Louisville Journal. Six months later, Mr. W. N. Haldeman, 
who owned the Courier, joined with me in combining the 
Journal and Courier, under the name of the Courier-Journal. 
Incidentally, this led to the purchase of the old Louisville 
Democrat. The paper thus established we have conducted — 
he the publisher, and I the editor — ever since, now nearly 
thirty-three years. During all that time, we have worked 
steadily, each in his appointed place, and no issue has ever 
arisen between us. We have labored as one instead of two 
toward a common end— the making of a newspaper of the first 
class and the highest character. Both of us have disdained 
money, save as it contributed to this aim. Neither of us has 
allowed himself to be diverted by the allurements of specula- 
tion or office. The result shows for itself." 

With the coming to Louisville there had set in for Mr. 
Watterson a period of very hard work. He had married in 
Nashville, in 1865, Miss Rebecca Ewing, a daughter of the 
Hon. Andrew Ewing of Tennessee. When he took charge of 
the Journal he left his wife in Nashville. His whole time was 
given up to his business. He slept in a back room adjoining 
the office and took his meals at a little restaurant a few doors 
away. Upon the consolidation of the two papers he worked, 
if possible, with even greater energy. Mr. Prentice was yet 
the chief editorial writer, and Mr. Watterson acted as manag- 
ing editor. His position was a difficult one. He had found 
surrounding Mr. Prentice a number of brilliant men who, 
under other influences, might have made a lasting impression 
on their times ; but who, taking their cue from their chief, 
were too entirely given over to a Bohemian manner of life to 
be serviceable to a man with serious purposes. Mr. Prentice 



264 LEADERS OF MEN. 

was himself in an unlovely old age ; his habits dissolute, and 
his power declining or quite gone. The personal aspect of 
the case as between the young stranger and the men already 
installed was not pleasant. They regarded him as a usurper 
and an upstart. He had to rely on a force of men of inferior 
quality, but more tractable. 

In another and broader sphere was the new pitted against 
the old order. Mr. Watterson was one of the first of Southern 
men to accept the fact that politically and socially the coun- 
try had experienced a complete transformation as a result of 
the war and the emancipation of the negroes. Then and 
there did he begin the work of reconciliation that he has not 
laid down. In the then social conditions of Louisville this 
was a difficult and unpleasant, if not a dangerous, attitude. 
The old Bourbon spirit was strong in Kentucky, where the 
post-bellum belligerents were now in the saddle. Mr. Watter- 
son insisted that the three new amendments to the constitu- 
tion were the treaty of peace between the North and the 
South, and that the South must accept them in good faith. 
The feeling was strong against the negro. It was a serious 
question whether or not he should be permitted to ride on the 
street cars. The law had to be changed to enable his testi- 
mony to be received in the courts. Mr. Watterson took an 
uncompromising position for the new order. With all the 
power of his newspaper he exposed and fought the kuklux 
outrages. Yet in sentiment he was intensely Southern ; in 
manner a Cavalier of Cavaliers, for all he insists that we 
know not Cavalier or Puritan. 

But it was not until the death of Mr. Prentice, in January, 
1870, that Mr. Watterson ceased to be the practical working 
journalist who saw the paper to press every night, to become a 
writer and publicist. Already he had made his position clear, 
as above indicated, but henceforth his pen was to be in daily 
defense of his ideas. The Democratic party had assumed a 
hostile attitude that was intensified by the rule of the carpet- 
bagger. It was in the hope of getting the party out of this 
slough that the Liberal movement was undertaken in the 
South. This movement Mr. Watterson led in that section 
during 1871 and 1872. The Greeley nomination and its 
indorsement by the Baltimore convention were the result of 
a campaign by journalists Henry Watterson, Horace White, 



HENRY WATTERSON. 265 

Samuel Bowles, and Murat Halstead. That the country was 
not ready for this attempted reconciliation was no fault of 
Mr. Watterson, who for six years had been leading up to it 
with unfaltering purpose. 

Mr. Watterson had now fairly entered upon his public 
career in politics as well as in journalism. Be it understood 
that the term politics is never used in relation to him in the 
sense of office seeking or office holding. He has been in 
politics only to direct a policy. He has never sought office 
and never held but one. In obedience to the demands of the 
hour, and in compliance with the personal behests of Mr. 
Tilden, he consented to an election to the Forty-fourth Con- 
gress, in 1876, filling out the unexpired term of Edward Y. 
Parsons. After making his mark in the House he declined a 
re-election. He had been a member of the Committee on 
Ways and Means, and his speeches on the Electoral Commis- 
sion had been the most noteworthy utterances on that subject. 
This Tilden period was the most picturesque in Mr. Watter- 
son's public career. At the urgent demand of Mr. Tilden's 
friends, he had presided over the convention that nominated 
him for the presidency. He went to Congress because Mr. 
Tilden conceived it necessary that there should be in the 
House a personal representative who could speak. 

To write Mr. Watterson's biography during the last twenty- 
five years from the political side, would be to write the history 
of Democracy during that period. His influence, however, 
has been exerted not as an office holder, but as one independ- 
ent of, and undesirous of, office. He has stood for what he 
considered pure Democracy against the fallacies that from 
time to time have foisted themselves upon the party, — national 
fellowship and unity as against sectional prejudice and radi- 
calism, honest money as against both irredeemable paper cur- 
rency and free silver, and free trade as against all compromise 
with protection. The platforms of nearly all the Democratic 
conventions from 1872 until 1896 were written by him either 
partly or in whole, and, in 1892, he succeeded in reversing in 
open convention, by a large majority, the report of the plat- 
form committee. Foreseeing, in 1896, the course sure to be 
taken by the Chicago convention, he refused to serve as dele- 
gate, and later repudiated the platform. 

When the Grand Army of the Republic was invited to hold 



266 LEADERS OF MEN. 

its 1895 encampment in Louisville, Mr. Watterson's speech, 
more than any other single cause, brought an acceptance of 
the invitation. He did not extend an invitation to the veter- 
ans to come to Louisville, but to come South. Speaking on 
behalf of the Southern people, he said : — 

" Candor compels me to say that there was a time when 
they did not want to see you. There was a time when, with- 
out any invitation whatever, either written or verbal ; with- 
out so much as a suggestion of welcome, you insisted on 
giving us the honor of your company, and, as it turned out, 
when we were but ill prepared to receive." 

He said it would be a pity to refuse to come now, when the 
invitation was extended, when the preparations were made, 
and the welcome assured. Then, in serious vein, he evoked 
the spirit of national fraternity, which he so well knows how 
to arouse.. To have declined an invitation couched in such 
terms and extended in such a spirit would have been churlish 
indeed. 

Mr. Watterson is the most persuasive of speakers, as he is 
the most persuasive of writers. Whether he is addressing a 
turbulent political body or a dignified and imposing audience 
such as that which faced him when he delivered the dedica- 
tory, address at the World's Fair, his words and his manner 
are equally fitted to the occasion. He knows the value of 
every tone of the voice, every gesture. Speaking to a politi- 
cal body, his gestures are of the hammering and chopping 
variety. Resting his right hand in his left, when he makes a 
point he chops it off or drives it in with a quick, sharp motion. 
If his audience misses a point he waits until somebody sees it, 
then everybody does. But his manner is entirely different 
from this in the delivery of his lectures or in his addresses 
made to sedate audiences on important public occasions. 
Then his oratory is ornate, his gestures abundant, graceful, 
and impressive. His " reading" is as carefully considered as 
that of a well-trained actor, and one is impressed by the dig- 
nity of the orator. He is eloquent, full of dramatic force, yet 
so scholarly as to satisfy the most exacting requirements of a 
classic school. 

Mr. Watterson's first lecture, " The Oddities of Southern 
Life," was delivered in 1877, followed a little later by a vol- 
ume treating the same theme of provincial humor. "Money 



COURAGE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE. 269 

and Morals " and " The Compromises of Life " followed the 
first lecture in the order named, and have been delivered to 
delighted audiences the country over. His latest lecture, 
" Abraham Lincoln," is an important addition to the Lincoln 
literature. 

Mr. Watterson's home life is ideal. Loving the freedom 
and •' elbow room " of the country, his desire for long years 
was to possess a place where he could retire in old age from 
the noise aud rush and bustle of the city. In 1896 he discov- 
ered his ideal place in a plantation of about one hundred 
acres near Jeffersontown, twelve miles south of Louisville. 
He purchased the property, beautified it to suit his own 
ideas, and moved out from Louisville. Here at "Mansfield" 
he does most of his writing, coming usually to the Courier- 
Journal office every day or every other day when occasion 
demands. 

When asked to specify the qualities most needed for suc- 
cess in journalism, Mr. Watterson said : "The bases are good 
habits, good sense and good feeling : a good common school 
education, particularly in the English branches ; application 
both constant and cheerful. All success is, of course, rela- 
tive. Good and ill fortune play certain parts in the life of 
every man. If Hoche or Moreau had lived, either might have 
made the subsequent career of Napoleon impossible. But 
honest, tireless, painstaking assiduity may conquer ill fortune, 
as it will certainly advance good fortune. In the degree that 
a man adds to these essentials larger talents, — peculiar train- 
ing, breadth of mind, and reach of vision, — his flight will be 
higher. But here we enter the realms of genius, where there 
are no laws, at least none that may be made clear for ordi- 
nary mortals to follow." 

COURAGE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE. 

PERSEVERANCE and self-reliance are proof of cour- 
age ; their continuance depends upon it. By courage, 
we mean that power of the mind which bears up under 
all dangers and difficulties. 

Fortitude may express one element of this noble virtue, 
since fortitude is the power that enables one to endure pain. 
The man of fortitude will endure the amputation of a limb ; 
the man of courage will do that, and also face the cannon's 



270 LEADERS OF MEN. 

-mouth. " Courage comprehends the absence of all fear, the 
disregard of all personal convenience, the spirit to begin, and 
the determination to pursue what has been begun." 

Such a quality is needed every hour. The most humble 
life will find abundant use for it ; the cares, labors, and 
embarrassments that are the common lot of humanity, make 
it indispensable. The burdens which boyhood and girlhood 
must bear in acquiring an education, learning a trade, resist- 
ing temptations, and building spotless characters, demand 
better physical and moral courage. A coward will not under- 
take to make noble manhood or womanhood. If he did, he 
would not merit the approbation of God, who never promises 
success to cowardice. 

A faint-hearted man would never undertake to prepare a 
dictionary, or a history of the United States. Only the most 
resolute and determined spirit would take up such a burden. 
Here is ample scope for courage that can forego pleasure and 
personal comfort, endure privation and wearisome labor, and 
conquer opposition of every kind. 

At sixteen years of age, Samuel Drew was a wild, reckless 
youth, given to idleness, orchard robbing, and even worse 
practices. A serious accident that nearly cost him his life, 
together with the sudden death of his brother, checked him in 
his mad career. He had lost his reputation by evil conduct, 
and education by avoiding schools ; and yet he resolved to 
regain one and acquire the other. A youth of less courage 
would have yielded to despair, declaring that it would be 
impossible to surmount the difficulties in his way. But, ris- 
ing in the strength of regenerated manhood, he resolved to 
become a true man and scholar. He appeared to realize that 
the gist of the matter was in him, and to resolve that it should 
come out. 

Yet he must gain a livelihood on the shoemaker's bench, 
where he went to work with a will. Every leisure moment 
was devoted to reading and study, and often night contrib- 
uted materially to this end. Referring to this period, twenty 
years thereafter, he said, " The more 1 read, the more I felt 
my ignorance ; and the more I felt my ignorance, the more 
invincible became my energy to surmount it. 

" Every leisure moment was employed in reading one thing 
or another. Having to support myself by manual labor, my 



COURAGE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE. 271 

time for reading was but little ; and to overcome this disad- 
vantage my usual method was to place a book before me 
while at meat, and at every repast I read five or six pages. 
Locke's ' Essay on the Understanding ' awakened me from 
my stupor, and induced me to form a resolution to abandon 
the groveling views I had been accustomed to maintain." 

Without prolonging his story. Drew became an active 
parishioner of Dr. Adam Clarke and a local preacher before 
he left the shoe bench. Subsequently he became a distin- 
guished author, known to every generation since his day as 
the author of an " Essay on the Immateriality and Immor- 
tality of the Soul." His fame was spread world wide. Cour- 
age did it. 

In the late War of the Rebellion, one of our great war 
ships — the Cumberland — was attacked by the Confederate 
ram Virginia, near Xorfolk, Virginia. The guns of the Cum- 
berland could make no impression upon the iron monster 
called the "Rebel ram," yet her defenders stood at their guns 
bravely, and kept their colors flying until the noble ship, 
riddled and rent from stem to stern, sank beneath the waves. 
But "she went down with her colors flying." We call that 
loyalty, patriotism. 

When President Lincoln was renominated for a second 
term of office, the army was in great need of recruits. He 
resolved to issue a call for five hundred thousand men ; but 
leading members of Congress said, " It will endanger your 
re-election ; " and they advised him to withhold the order. 
But he persisted, and finally went personally before the con- 
gressional military committee, where a similiar attempt was 
made to induce him to withhold the order. But the attempt 
only evoked a higher and grander expression of courage. 
Stretching his tall form to its full height he replied, with the 
fire of indignation flashing in his eyes, as if he had been asked 
to do an act of meanness : " It is not necessary for me to be 
re-elected, but it is necessary for the soldiers at the front to be 
reinforced by five hundred thousand men, and I shall call for 
them ; and if I go down under the act, I will go down, like the 
Cumberland, with my colors flying." That was courage cul- 
minating in the highest principle. 

It was in the terrible battle of Atlanta that the brave and 
idolized McPherson fell. The news of his death sped with the 



272 LEADERS OF MEN. 

speed of lightning along the lines, sending a pang of sorrow 
through every soldier's heart. For a moment it seemed as if 
despair would demoralize the whole army, until Gen. John A. 
Logan, on whom the command now rested, took in the situa- 
tion, and, on his furious black stallion, dashed down the lines, 
crying at the top of his voice, as he waved his sword in the 
air, "McPherson and revenge! McPherson and revenge!" 
An eyewitness wrote : " Never shall I forget, — never will one 
of us who survived that desperate fight forget, to our dying 
day, — the grand spectacle presented by Logan, as he rode up 
and down in front of the line, his black eyes flashing fire, 
his long, black hair streaming in the wind, bareheaded, and 
his service-worn slouch hat swinging in his bridle hand, and 
his sword flashing in the other, crying out in stentorian tones, 
' Boys ! McPherson and revenge ! ' Why, it made my blood 
run both hot and cold, and moved every man of us to follow 
to the death the brave and magnificent hero-ideal of a soldier 
who made this resistless appeal to all that is noble in a 
soldier's heart, and this, too, when the very air was alive with 
whistling bullets and howling shell ! And if he could only 
have been painted as he swept up and down the line on a 
steed as full of fire as his glorious rider, it would to-day be one 
of the finest battle pictures of the war." This impromptu 
act of courage was even more inspiring than a reinforcement 
of ten thousand men, and converted his almost despairing 
command into mighty conquerers ; and the day was won. 
Such a deed of heroism adds luster to human glory. 

Courage is so noble a trait that men respect it even in a 
pirate. Pizarro was a pirate bent upon plundering Peru, no 
matter what perils and hardships blocked his way. At Gallo, 
disease and hunger drove his men to madness, and they 
demanded that the enterprise should be abandoned. Just 
then a vessel arrived that offered to take them back to 
Panama. But Pizarro spurned the offer, and with his sword 
drew a line on the sand from east to west. Then, turning his 
face to the south, he said to his brother pirates : — 

"Friends and comrades! On that side are toil, hunger, 
nakedness, the drenching storm, desertion, and death ; on this 
side, ease and pleasure. Here lies Peru with its riches ; here 
Panama with its poverty. Choose each man what best be- 
comes a brave Castilian. For my part I go to the south." 



COURAGE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE. 273 

Put that courage into a saint and he will become a mission- 
ary like Judson, or a reformer like Luther, or a martyr like 
Latimer. 

When Luther was summoned to appear before the most 
august body of Romish magnates who ever convened at 
Worms, to answer the charge of heresy, friends said, " It will 
cost you your life ; don't go, but flee." He answered, " No ; I 
will repair thither, though I should find there thrice as many 
devils as there are tiles upon the house tops." 

On his way to the stake, Latimer said to his companion in 
bonds, Ridley, "Be of good comfort ; we shall this day light 
such a candle in England, by God's grace, as shall never be 
put out." 

Higher courage this than that of the battlefield, where the 
watchword is only that of Napoleon, '•' Glory ! " Higher even 
than that of Wellington and Nelson, whose watchword was 
" Duty !" for his was duty for humanity and God. 

True courage is both tender and magnanimous. A braver 
man than Sir Charles Napier never carried a sword or fought 
a battle. Yet he declined sporting with a gun, because he 
could not bear to hurt an animal. 

General Grant had no fear of " iron ball and leaden rain " ; 
but when Lee surrendered, and the Union men began to 
salute him by firing cannon, Grant directed the firing to 
cease, saying, " It will wound the feelings of our prisoners, 
who have become our countrymen again." 

Faith in one's self and one's life pursuit is indispensable, 
for it rallies all the difficulties to endeavor. He who thinks 
he can, can ; he who thinks he can't, cant. These are the 
two classes of persons we meet ; one successful, the other a 
failure. A man must confide in his own ability to fulfill his 
calling, if he would win. He need not indulge in egotism, 
or be over-confident ; but he must believe that he can do what 
he undertakes, else he will fail. This sort of faith is just as 
indispensable to secular life, as Christian faith is to spiritual 
life. Without the latter, "it is impossible to please God"; 
without the former it is impossible to please ourselves. No 
man can really respect himself, unless he has faith in himself 
and his chosen pursuit. He needs this in the outset in order to 
start well ; and he needs it all along in order to do well. 

When Edison conceived the idea of the phonograph, he 



274 LEADERS OF MEN. 

grew elated over the possibility. Further thought and study 
culminated in the belief that he was able to produce the won- 
der. He undertook the task under the settled conviction that 
he could make the instrument, and that conviction never 
wavered, though his progress was slow. Year after year he 
studied, experimented, and labored, sometimes encouraged, 
sometimes disappointed, but never despairing. It can be done! 
I can do it ! This confidence in himself to achieve did not suf- 
fer his energies to flag, nor his expectations to waver. At the 
end of seven years, his phonograph would talk, but it would 
not talk as he desired. It would say jiecie instead of specie. 
But it " shall say specie " he resolved ; and in three months 
more it spoke the word plainly and loudly as he wished. 
Faith in himself conquered, for it kept his courage alive and 
caused his faculties to do their best. Without it there would 
have been no phonograph. 

Mr. Edison's phenomenal success with his electric light is 
known the world over. When scientists, editors, and scholars 
doubted, his faith never wavered. He was confident that 
electrical science was in its infancy, and that he could evolve 
from its hidden resources what would startle the world. 
Through faith he wrought mightily, adding patent to patent, 
until more than a thousand separate patents were involved in 
the production of his electric light. We now put electricity 
to a great many uses for which we are indebted to Edison, 
though we are only beginning to know its priceless value. It 
performs errands for us, carrying messages, closing bargains, 
and making business hum ; it puts life and power into loco- 
motives and sets ponderous machinery in motion ; it runs 
cars, lights streets and houses, rings door and table bells, 
writes letters, makes fires, and even cures and kills people ; 
for we take it as a medicine, and with it execute criminals. 
What more will be done with it remains to be seen. Edison 
assures us that we are just becoming acquainted with it as a 
useful agent, so that we wonder what next its world of mys- 
tery will disclose to surprise mankind. 

For the present development and use of the electric light, 
we are more indebted to Edison than to any other inventor. 
His faith in himself and electrical science has wrough 
mightily. An editor says : " His improvements in telegraphic 
apparatus, and in the working of the telephone, seem almost 



COURAGE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE. 275 

to have exhausted the possibilities of electricity. In like 
manner the discovery of the phonograph, and the application 
of its principles in the aerophone, by which the volume of 
sound is so amplified and intensified as to be made audible at 
a distance of several miles, seem to have stretched the laws 
of sound to their utmost limit. We are inclined to regard 
him as one of the wonders of the world. While Huxley, 
Tyndall, Spencer, and other theorists talk and speculate, he 
quietly produces accomplished facts, and, with his marvelous 
inventions, is pushing the whole world ahead in its march to 
the highest civilization, making life more and more enjoy- 
able." 

When Edison had labored two years in his own laboratory, 
he said, "Two years of experience proves, beyond a doubt, 
that the electric light, for household purposes, can be produced 
and sold,'' for which he was severely criticised, and even 
ridiculed. But long since he fulfilled his own prophecy, as 
the increased convenience and comfort of families bear faith- 
ful witness, 

Edison's remarkable achievements in electrical science are 
represented by the excellent illustration,— a fine tribute of 
art to the genius and spirit of the great inventor, whose per- 
severance, industry, patience, and power of endurance, are 
almost without a parallel. He ordered a pile of chemical 
books from New York, London, and Paris. " In six weeks he 
had gone through the books," writes a co-laborer, "written a 
volume of abstracts, made two thousand experiments on the 
formulas, and had produced a solution, the only one in the 
world that would do the very thing he wanted done, namely, 
record over two hundred words a minute on a wire two hun- 
dred and fifty miles long. He has since succeeded in record- 
ing thirty-one hundred words in a minute." 

Charles Goodyear purchased an India rubber life-preserver 
as a curiosity. He was told that rubber would be of great 
value for a thousand things, if cold did not make it hard as 
stone, and heat reduce it to liquid. " I can remedy that," he 
said to himself, after turning the matter over in his mind for 
a time. The more he pondered, the more confident he was 
that he could do it. Experiment after experiment failed. 
The money he put into the research was sunk. His last dol- 
lar was spent. His family suffered for the necessaries of life. 



276 LEADERS OF MEtf. 

His best efforts were baffled, and his best friends forsook him 
because they thought he was partially insane. A gentleman 
inquired after him, and he was told, " If you see a man with 
an India rubber cap, an India rubber coat, India rubber shoes, 
and an India rubber purse in his pocket, with not a cent in it, — 
that is Charles Goodyear." But Goodyear was not a lunatic. 
It was faith in his ability to do that caused him to pursue the 
idea of vulcanized rubber with such persistency. For five 
years he battled with obstacles that would have disheartened 
men of less determination, counting poverty, hardship, and 
the ridicule of friends nothing, if he could only accomplish his 
purpose ; and this he expected to do, as really as he expected 
to live. Finally his efforts were crowned with success. Faith 
did it. It was a practicable thing ; he believed in it, and he 
believed in himself also ; and so he bent his noblest efforts to 
the enterprise, and won. 

Columbus believed that there was a new world beyond 
the untraversed sea, and that he himself was able to find it. 
Year after year he sought in vain the patronage that would 
make his project possible. Though opposed, thwarted, ridi- 
culed, and even persecuted, he pressed his suit over and over. 
Adverse circumstances seemed to strengthen his purpose, and 
make him invincible. In the darkest hour he never lost heart. 
Faith in himself and his great enterprise finally triumphed. 

Franklin believed that lightning and electricity were iden- 
tical. More famous scientific men than himself believed 
otherwise, but this fact did not modify his own opinion. His 
conviction deepened as he pondered the matter. He pro- 
ceeded to prove what he believed, by the aid of a kite. He 
disclosed his purpose only to his son, lest he should be made 
the butt of ridicule. But he succeeded. Faith in himself over- 
came obstacles, adverse opinions, and current theories, and he 
won immortal fame. The same has been true of great states- 
men, explorers, discoverers, inventors, and the world's best 
workers generally. Faith in their own ability and purpose 
made them persistent, and finally victorious. Our own land 
is a fruitful illustration of this truth, from the time the Pil- 
grims sought freedom to worship God on these shores. The 
eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a good record of facts. By 
faith the Pilgrim Fathers, warned of God of things not seen 
as yet, prepared the Mayflower to the saving of their house- 



COURAGE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE. 277 

holds, and set sail for a place which they should afterwards 
receive for an inheritance. By faith they took up their abode 
in the land of promise, which was a strange country, in- 
habited only by savages and wild beasts, and here they laid 
the foundations of this great republic. By faith they endured 
privations and hardships, not counting their lives dear unto 
themselves, if they could possess a country of their own. By 
faith they passed through the Red Sea of difficulty, in tilling 
the soil, establishing a government, planting churches and 
schools, until, out of their weakness being made strong, they 
waxed valiant and mighty, turning to flight the armies of the 
aliens. By faith Washington led the American army and 
achieved independence, whereby he became known as the 
" Father of his Country,*' securing for himself and his pos- 
terity the unexampled thrift of a free nation. By faith Lin- 
coln came to his reign in a time of great darkness and peril, 
when slavery threatened to destroy the government ; and he 
broke the chains of oppression and saved the land from over- 
throw, whereby he became known as the "Saviour of his 
Country." But time would fail me to tell of all those, who, 
through faith, have builded a great nation, whose material, 
intellectual, and moral resources are without parallel. With- 
out faith such an outcome was impossible ; our secular 
national life is as impossible as the moral without it. States- 
men, historians, scientists, inventors, teachers, merchants, 
and artisans must believe that they are equal to any task be- 
fore them, to make such a result certain. 

Without faith in men and means, not one day of a true life 
can be lived. " I have no faith in editors," says a faithless 
citizen, as he takes up the morning paper only to lay it down 
again, for he cannot believe its news. " I have no faith in 
cooks ; whole families have been poisoned by them," and he 
cannot eat his breakfast. "I have no faith in men," and so 
he declines to do business with them, lest he be cheated. " I 
have no faith in engineers ; they are a drunken class," and he 
refuses to take the train for the city lest his life be sacrificed 
by a reckless engineer. Before nine o'clock in the morning, 
it is proven that a single day of real life cannot be lived with- 
out faith in men and enterprises. 

As with the individual, so with communities, — difficulties 
develop faith, and great enterprises follow. 



278 LEADERS OF MEN. 

The winter of 1866-67 was unusually severe, so that, on 
some days, it was impossible to run a ferry-boat between 
Brooklyn and New York. On many days merchants were 
longer in going from their homes in Brooklyn to their desks 
in New York, than passengers were in traveling from New 
York to Albany. The public said : " This must not be ; we 
must have a bridge ! " And they built one, although fourteen 
years were required for the stupendous work. 

Ordinary faith would stagger before such an enterprise as 
the Brooklyn bridge ; but the discoveries, inventions, experi- 
ences, and progress of previous ages made faith that was 
equal to the occasion, possible. "It is not the work of any 
one man or any one age. It is the result of the study, of the 
experience, and of the knowledge of many men of many 
ages. It is not merely a creation, but a growth. In no pre- 
vious period of the world's history could this bridge have been 
built." A hundred years ago there was little or no faith in 
such mammoth enterprises. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

DAVID STARR JORDAN. 

ON PURPOSE BIRTHPLACE AND PARENTAGE YOUTHFUL CHARACTER- 
ISTICS IN SCHOOL — LOVE OF NATURE AT COLLEGE THE TEACHER 

AND INVESTIGATOR WITH AGASSIZ AT PENIKESE PRESIDENT OF INDI- 
ANA UNIVERSITY ACCEPTS THE PRESIDENCY OF LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR 

UNIVERSITY IN PRIVATE LIFE IN THE CLASS ROOM AN IMPRESSIVE 

LECTURER HIS LITERARY WORK SENSE OF HUMOR AS A UNIVERSITY 

PRESIDENT — VIEWS ON EDUCATION PERSONALITY SCIENTIFIC WORK. 

SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 




"The youth gets together his materials," says Thoreau, 
to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance a palace or tem- 
ple on the earth, and, at length, the middle- 
aged man concludes to build a woodshed 
with them." 

Now, why not plan for a woodshed at first, 
and save this waste of time and materials ? 

But this is the very good of it. The gath- 
ering of these materials will strengthen the 
youth. It may be the means of saving him 
from idleness, from vice. So long as you 
are at work on your bridge to the moon, you 
will shun the saloon, and we shall not see 
you on the dry-goods box in front of the corner grocery. I 
know many a man who in early life planned only to build a 
woodshed, but who found later that he had the strength to 
build a temple, if he only had the materials. Many a man 
the world calls successful would give all life has brought him 
could he make up for the disadvantages of his lack of early 
training. It does not hurt a young man to be ambitious in 
some honorable direction. In the pure-minded youth, ambi- 
tion is the source of all the virtues. Lack of ambition means 
failure from the start. The young man who is aiming at 
nothing and who cares not to rise, is already dead. There is 
no hope for him. Only the sexton and the undertaker can 
serve his purposes. 



280 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



The old traveler, Rafinesque, tells us that when he was a 
boy, he read the voyages of Captain Cook, and Pallas, and 
Le Vaillant, and his soul was fired with the desire to be a 
great traveler like them. "And so I became such," he adds 

shortly. 

If you say to yourself, "I will be a naturalist, a traveler, 
a historian, a statesman, a scholar ; " if you never unsay it ; 
if you bend all your powers in that direction, and take advan- 
tage of all those aids that help toward your ends, and reject 
all that do not, you will sometime reach your goal. The 
world turns aside to let any man pass who knows whither he 
is going. 




AVID STARR JORDAN, president of the Leland Stan- 
ford Junior University, was born at Gainesville, New 
York, on the nineteenth day of February, 1851. His 
father was a farmer in comfortable circumstances, who cared 
a great deal more for the elder poets than for the current 
agricultural literature. His mother was a woman of ability 
and force, characterized by strength of will, depth of feeling, 
and pithiness of speech. Children resemble their parents ; 
" the apple does not fall far from the tree." Dr. Jordan seems 
to owe his rare executive ability to his mother, while from his 
father he inherited his fine literary sense. He grew up a shy, 
serious lad, with large ambitions and a taste for poetry. He 
liked to wander off into the woods by himself, where his 
sharp eyes were already becoming accustomed to the fine 
print of nature. The instinct for generalizing manifested 
itself early in him, if we are to believe tradition. It is said 
that he once attempted to classify the Assyrian kings ; but as 
the materials at hand supplied him with data for but two 
kinds, the good and the bad, the task was too simple, and he 
gave it up. 

Reputations are easily wrecked. Young Jordan developed 
a marked distaste for the routine labors of the farm, and was 
consequently called lazy by the neighbors. The fact that he 
collected butterflies and flowers during his waking hours, and 
read poetry, did not modify that judgment. Possibly his 
father was blamed for allowing the boy to waste his time 



DAVID STARR JORDAN. 281 

picking daisies. At any rate the son was held up as a warn- 
ing to other boys. Nothing worse could be said of a farmer's 
son than that he was lazy. 

He was anything but lazy. Master Jordan was sent to the 
village school, where he had to get his daily lessons, and after- 
ward to the academy for young ladies in the neighboring 
town of Warsaw, there being no secondary school for boys 
convenient to his home. He spent his spare hours in the 
fields. Thus he learned French and Latin, read history, and 
grew intimate with the best American and English poets ; 
and he made a catalogue of the plants of his native county. 
He was allowed more freedom in his school work than if he 
had been put through the routine education of the period for 
boys. In later years he comments upon the value of such 
training. " We know," he says, " that there are some boys 
whose natural food is the Greek root. There are others whose 
dreams expand in conic sections, and whose longings for the 
finite or infinite always follow certain paraboloid or ellipsoid 
curves. There are some to whom the turgid sentences of 

Cicero are the poetry of utterance But there are 

other students . . '«. .to whom the structure of the oriole's 
nest is more marvelous, as well as more poetical, than the 
structure of an ode of Horace." 

An education of this kind was the best one possible for a 
naturalist, however bad it might have been for a village 
schoolmaster. Its effect was seen when, in 1869, he entered 
Cornell University with the first freshman class. The youth 
of eighteen was found to be an authority on the habits of bees 
and the flora of Genesee and Wyoming counties ; and also on 
such homely subjects as hoof-rot in sheep. He had already 
begun to teach at the Warsaw academy. At Cornell he 
speedily pushed to the front. He was appointed an instructor 
in botany in his junior year. In his senior year he became 
president of the Natural History Society, which had a mem- 
bership that has since been influential in scientific circles. 

Mr. Jordan was graduated from Cornell in 1872 with the 
degree of M. S. He is the only man who ever received the 
Master's degree from that university upon completion of an 
undergraduate course. It may be added that he shares with 
Dr. Andrew D. White alone the distinction of having had 
an honorary degree from the same university — that of LL.D., 



282 LEADERS OF MEN. 

granted in 1886. Upon his graduation from Cornell he 
was called to Lombard University, Galesburg, Illinois, as 
professor of natural history, where he began the study of 
the fishes of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes — a 
work which he continued during the many years of his resi- 
dence in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. His summer 
vacations he spent in profitable scientific excursions to various 
lands. He identified himself with the training school of Jean 
Louis Agassiz on the island of Penikese when it was opened, 
and remained a friend of Agassiz until the death of that 
great scientist in 1873. In 1874 he returned to Penikese as 
lecturer in marine botany. In 1875 he was graduated in med- 
icine from the Indiana Medical College, and in the same year 
became professor of biology at Butler University, near Indian- 
apolis. He was an assistant on the United States Fish Com- 
mission from 1877 to 1891. In 1879 he became professor of 
zoology at the Indiana University, a position which he held 
until 1885, when he was made president of the institution. In 
1891 he resigned the presidency of the Indiana University to 
take up his life work as president of the Leland Stanford 
Junior University in California. 

In private and in public life Dr. Jordan is a man of the 
simplest habits. "What always strikes even a casual 
observer in Jordan," says Professor Anderson, "is that he 
seldom does things as other men do them. If it cannot always 
be said that his way is the best, his unfailing success attests 
that it is anyhow the best for him. In bearing, phrase, turn 
of wit and simplicity of life he is unique, and that without 
the slightest affectation of originality. This was true of him 
as a student. He was probably the best man of his time at 
college, yet he was rarely seen to study. He paid his ex- 
penses in one way and another by his own labor, yet he was a 
man of leisure." This testimony is from a college friend and 
classmate. " Perhaps Jordan does not see everything," he 
adds ; " it is enough for him to .see what is vital. Those who 
have time may dwell, if they will, in the skirts and suburbs 
of things ; Jordan strikes for the center. He has the sense of 
an Indian for direction, and may be relied upon to bring his 
followers out of the woods as promptly as any guide who 
could be mentioned." 

In the classroom and laboratory Dr. Jordan is an inspira- 



DAVID STARR JORDAN. 283 

tion to all who come in contact with him. He has the per- 
sonal magnetism requisite to a teacher, to begin with ; and 
he has in addition that rare sense of adequacy in the expres- 
sion of his thoughts which Franklin so well knew the value 
of, when he attributed to its cultivation a great part of his 
success in science and statesmanship. One of Jordan's most 
marked characteristics is his love of sincerity, his hatred of 
shams, hypocrisy, pretense. He presents what he knows to 
be true, in the most direct language of which he is capable. 
He is absolutely frank in his dealings with his subject before 
his classes. He knows what he is trying to do. 

Dr. Jordan is an impressive speaker upon the lecture plat- 
form. He makes use of none of the elocutionary devices, but 
speaks as he talks, simply, clearly, sincerely, as one man to 
others. He is strikingly undramatic ; it is always he and 
none other that is speaking. Where another man would 
identify himself with this interest or that, and translate his 
thought into physical exemplifications as he went along, in 
order to bear in upon his audience the truth in his mind, Dr. 
Jordan retains at all times his almost prophetic personality, 
and is the more effective for it. He uses no gestures, scorns 
the rhetorical effects of climax, speaks clearly in a pleasing 
voice, and convinces because of his own belief in what he is 
saying. His illustrations are the happiest possible. They 
illuminate rather than ornament, and are drawn from every 
source. His generalizations are brilliant to the point of 
epigram. Not the least attractive feature of his style is his 
humor. Few men are so well endowed with the sense of 
humor as he. 

As a writer, Dr. Jordan is a man of distinct attainments. 
The same qualities that mark the expression of his thought 
upon the lecture platform are shown in his prose style. 
Simplicity, directness, fervor, wide and accurate knowledge, 
imagination, humor, — in short, the chief literary virtues, and 
some others, — are eminently present with him when he writes. 
He exemplifies in a striking way Herbert Spencer's idea that 
economy of attention is the first requisite of a good st3 T le. 

His keen sense of humor has already been alluded to, but 
no casual allusion will express the place that the humorous 
holds in his life. Lowell somewhere has said that only those 
who knew him best could know that he was a humorist in the 



284 LEADERS OF MEN. 

morning as well as in the afternoon. Jordan, too, is a humor- 
ist in the morning. He is a humorist all the time. Strangers 
are sometimes puzzled to know what to think of him when 
gravely assenting to some absurdity, or when, with a straight 
face, he caps a pretentious piece of foolishness by something 
obviously so foolish that even the one addressed has to stretch 
his ears to credit it. A case in point is the famous article 
upon a mythical ". Sympsychograpb," printed (1896) in the 
Popular Science Monthly. This burlesque purported to be an 
account of experiments in " mental photography,*' whereby an 
absent cat was photographed by means of ''thought waves'' 
springing from her mental image in the brain of the " Astral 
Camera Club of Alcalde." So many readers took the whim 
seriously that the magazine had to print an editorial explain- 
ing the fun. 

It is as a university president that Dr. Jordan is most 
widely known and loved. In 1885 he was made president of 
the Indiana State University. During his administration of 
six years he raised that institution from a position of obscurity 
to a position among the leading western colleges ; and this he 
did in spite of the niggardly appropriations by the State Legis- 
lature : in spite, too, of the remoteness of the seat of the 
university. In 1891 he entered upon the presidency of Stan- 
ford University. The problem here was as difficult as any 
problem that a university president has had to face. Not only 
had the new president no faculty, no traditions, no momentum 
of scholarly attainment behind him ; he had also no students 
to educate. He had nothing to begin upon. The university 
was to be created out of hand. But he had the great faith 
that overcomes, and brought with him to California Stanford's 
first faculty of thirty-eight brilliant young men, "to lecture in 
marble halls to empty benches."' "The benches, as benches 
will when brilliant men lecture to them, filled themselves 
with young men and young women from the beginning, and 
there was another great university in the world. The success 
of Stanford University dates from the appointment of David 
Starr Jordan to be its first president. 

Dr. Jordan believes that the end of education is power — 
the will and the ability to be useful in the world. Training 
and inspiration alone will justify a scheme of teaching. If 
these be not present, if cyclopedic wisdom be substituted for 



DAVID STARR JORDAN. 285 

them, or any other ideal be substituted for them, the educa- 
tional plan fails ; for a man who is merely a repository of 
knowledge is worth neither more nor less than his equivalent 
shelf-full of books in the market-place. He is not strong. 
He is not an educated man. He is an absorbent. He is a 
sponge. He is a repository of other men's ideas, with no 
ideas of his own to give in exchange. He may have been 
instructed, but he has not been educated. " The magnet 
attracts iron, to be sure," he says, " to^the student who has 
learned the fact from a book ; but the fact is real to the stu- 
dent who has himself felt it pull. It is more than this — it is 
enchanting to the student who has discovered the fact for 
himself. To read a statement of the fact gives knowledge, 
more or less complete, as the book is accurate or the memory 
retentive. To verify the fact gives training ; to discover it 
gives inspiration. Training and inspiration, not the facts 
themselves, are the justification of science-teaching. Facts 
enough we can gather later in life, when we are too old to be 
trained or inspired. He whose knowledge comes from author- 
ity, or is derived from books alone, has no notion of the force 
of an idea brought first-hand from human experience." 

Any consideration of Dr. Jordan's educational position 
must necessarily include a reference to the "elective system," 
for no educator has more unequivocally espoused this system 
than he. Men are born different, he says ; therefore they 
require individual training, rather than the training afforded 
by a curriculum based upon averages. "No two students 
require exactly the same line of work in order that their time 
in college may be spent to the best advantage. The college 
student is the best judge of his own needs, or, at any rate, 
he can arrange his work for himself better than it can be 
done beforehand by any committee or by any consensus of 
educational philosophers. The student may make mistakes 
in this, as he may elsewhere in much more important things 
in life ; but here, as elsewhere, he must bear the responsibility 
of these mistakes. The development of this sense of responsi- 
bility is one of the most effective agencies the college has to 
promote the moral culture of the student. It is better for the 
student himself that he should sometimes make mistakes than 
that he should throughout his work be arbitrarily directed by 
others." 



286 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Physically as well as mentally Dr. Jordan is "a massive 
man, as imperturbable as a mountain." He lives upon simple 
fare, keeps regular hours, and turns off his work promptly. 
His nerves never fail him ; he never worries. He is never in 
a hurry for fear something will not be done. Consequently 
he can do four men's work without knowing it. The only 
thing that ever bothers him is society small talk. He is never 
happy at a reception or a swell dinner, with its chatter, or its 
smoking, drinking, and speech-making. He plays first base 
on the faculty baseball team by way of recreation, or goes off 
tramping through "fresh woods and pastures new" in quest 
of unnamed birds and fishes. He does not own the silk hat 
of the traditional college president. His dignity does not 
depend upon the clothes he wears. He is a part of the Palo 
Alto ranch, where professors and students and horses and 
meadow larks and humming birds grow up together, each 
respecting the rights of the other, and all of them unafraid ; 
the ranch of the finest fellow-feeling in the world, where the 
quail and the robins are tamest, because there is no one there 
who has the desire to throw stones at them. His favorite 
quotation is the saying of Ulrich von Hutten, " Die Luft der 
Freiheit weht (Freedom is in the air)." Freedom is in the air 
at Stanford University. 

Dr. Jordan's contributions to the literature of science have 
been numerous and important. In 1877 he published "A 
Partial Synopsis of the Fishes of Upper Georgia ; with Sup- 
plementary Papers on the Fishes of Tennessee, Kentucky, 
and Indiana," consisting of papers reprinted from the Annals 
of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, Volume XI. 
In 1880 he was appointed special agent of the United States 
Census Bureau for the purpose of inquiring into the marine 
industries of the Pacific Coast. While upon this duty, with 
the help of Professor Charles H. Gilbert, he made the first 
comprehensive survey ever attempted of the fresh-water and 
marine fishes of the west coast. The immediate results of 
this labor are embodied in the scattered bulletins of the 
United States Fish Commission, while the economic aspects 
are discussed in the "Fisheries" section of the Tenth Census 
Report. In 1882 appeared the "Synopsis of the Fishes of 
North America," in two volumes, comprising nearly twelve 
hundred pages, the authorship of which is shared with Dr. 



DAVID STARR JORDAN. 287 

Gilbert. An earlier work, "'The Manual of the Vertebrate 
Animals of the Northern United States, inclusive of Marine 
Species," has gone through a number of printings, and has 
grown from the small pocket edition of 1876 to a stout octavo 
volume of nearly four hundred pages. It attempts to give 
such guidance with respect to the classification of vertebrate 
animals as a botanical key gives with respect to our flora. 
"Science Sketches," published in 1888, consists of a number of 
unconnected sketches and addresses, written more or less dis- 
tinctly with a view to the popular presentation of scientific 
thought. It was of these papers that Professor Anderson said 
that they "are marked by a union of sound knowledge, with a 
whimsical humor and delicate fancy which is sufficiently rare 
among men, whether scientific or literary, and which goes far 
to convince readers that Jordan might have attained a place 
in literature perhaps as distinguished as his place in science." 
Another popular presentation of scientific studies is outlined 
in his "Factors in Organic Evolution," which is a syllabus to 
a course of introductory lectures. It was printed in 1894. 
"The Fishes of Sinaloa" was printed in 1895. In 1896 and 
189S appeared the "Fishes of North and Middle America," in 
three volumes, 3136 pages, done in collaboration with Dr. 
Barton W. Evermann, ichthyologist of the United States 
Fish Commission. This manual is the most complete and 
authoritative of its kind that has yet been written. 

In 1896 Dr. Jordan was sent out by the President as com- 
missioner in charge of the fur seal investigation authorized 
by Congress. Owing to the fact that the regulations formu- 
lated by the Paris tribunal of arbitration had failed to accom- 
plish their object, there still remained the question between 
the United States and Great Britain with regard to pelagic 
sealing. Dr. Jordan spent a season in Alaska in the careful 
investigation of seal life on the islands, and the results of the 
expedition are recorded in three large volumes, "Fur Seals and 
Fur Seal Islands of the North Pacific Ocean," 1619 pages in 
all, with a supplementary volume of plates. The work was 
printed by the Government in 1898. 

"Footnotes to Evolution" was published in 1898. The 
book comprises twelve popular addresses on the evolution of 
life. " Animal Life," a modern text-book of zoology, is by 
Dr. Jordan and Dr. Vernon L. Kellogg, New York, 1900. In 



288 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the introduction it is called " an elementary account of 
ecology ; that is, of the relations of animals to their surround- 
ings and of the responsive adapting or fitting of the life of 
animals to these surroundings." 

Besides his writings on scientific subjects, Dr. Jordan has 
written some notable papers in education and ethics. Of 
these, the collection called "Care and Culture of Men" was 
published in 1896. It is a volume made up of some eighteen 
addresses relating to higher education. " The Story of the 
Innumerable Company " (1896) is a series of nine papers upon 
ethical, religious, and historical subjects. "The Strength of 
Being Clean" (1900) is a Red Cross address upon the quest 
for unearned happiness. " Imperial Democracy " (1899) is an 
eloquent repudiation of the commercial and materialistic 
spirit, so far as American politics is concerned. 

A book of poems, " To Barbara, with Other Verses," was 
privately printed in 1897. " The Book of Knight and Bar- 
bara" (1899) is a collection of tales for children. 

SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 

aRCHBISHOP LEIGHTON said, " To him that knoweth 
not the port to which he is bound, no wind can be 
favorable." One wind is about as good for him as an- 
other. 

He may be well equipped, a good craft, sails set, ballast 
right, cargo well packed ; but he wants somewhere to go, a 
port to enter. 

All his activity and preparation are useless without a pur- 
pose. A ship without rudder, chart, or compass, on a track- 
less sea, tossed about like a cockle-shell by wind and wave, is 
an apt symbol of thousands of youths who undertake to cross 
the ocean of life without a definite aim. They are more likely 
to make shipwreck than a safe harbor. 

By singleness of purpose we mean an early decision to fol- 
low a certain occupation or profession as a life work, keeping 
that object constantly in view, true as the needle to the North 
Pole, and pushing for it through sunshine and storm to the 
goal. That is what the great apostle meant when he said, 
" This one thing I do." That single purpose took possession 
of his soul, and all the powers of his nature combined and 
bent to its accomplishment. In his triumphant declaration, 




PRESIDENT DAVID STARR' JORDAN. 



SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 291 

" I press toward the mark for the prize," is not only a daunt- 
less spirit, but also the lofty aim that never knows defeat. 

Perhaps the wise man put it best of all, when he said to 
the young : " Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye- 
lids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, 
and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right 
hand nor to the left." That is singleness of purpose. 

Seventy years ago there lived a boy in Farming-ton, New 
Hampshire, who thought more of a book and school than he 
did of anything else. He was then only six years of age. 
When he was eight years old, a neighbor, wife of Hon. 
Nehemiah Eastman, and sister of Hon. Levi Woodbury, see- 
ing him pass her house, called him in and gave him some 
clothes, of which he was in great need. At the same time she 
inquired if he knew how to read. 

" Yes, pretty well," he answered. 

"Come, then, to-morrow, and see me at my house," she 
continued. She knew of the lad's fondness for books, and her 
object was to encourage him. 

Early the next morning, little Henry Wilson (for that was 
his name) presented himself before the good lady, when she 
said to him : — 

" I had intended to give a Testament to some good boy who 
would be likely to make a proper use of it. You tell me you 
can read ; now, take this book and let me hear you." 

He read a whole chapter. 

"Now carry the book home," she added ; " read it entirely 
through, and you shall have it." 

Seven days from that time, he called again at Mrs. East- 
man's house, and announced that he had read the book 
through. 

" Why, so soon ? It cannot be ! " Mrs. Eastman exclaimed ; 
" but let me try you." 

So she examined him until fully convinced that he had read 
the Testament through. 

" The book is yours now," she kindly said ; and this was 
the first book he ever owned. 

When he was ten years old, his father, who was a poor day- 
laborer, and worked in a sawmill, bound him by indenture to 
a hard-working farmer, to serve him on his farm until the age 
of twenty-one. The bargain was that he should have one 



292 LEADERS OF MEN. 

month schooling each year in winter, but none in summer, 
with board and clothes, and, at the close of his service, 
should receive six sheep and a yoke of oxen. 

He proved a faithful worker, and endeared himself to his 
guardian and family. 

At twenty-one, he received his six sheep and yoke of oxen, 
and sold them at once for eighty-four dollars. This was a 
large amount for one who had never possessed so much as 
two dollars, and who had never spent so much as a single 
dollar. 

But, during the eleven years of hard service on the farm, 
he had become rich in manly thought and aims. Every 
moment of leisure and many hours at night, when he ought to 
have been in bed, he devoted to reading and study. Mrs. 
Eastman and Judge Whitehouse loaned him books from their 
ample libraries. 

At twenty-one, he had read nearly a thousand volumes, 
including all the numbers of the North American Review pub- 
lished at that time. These books embraced the leading works 
of British and American statesmen and historians, together 
with the works of such writers as Irving, Cooper, and Scott. 
His strong desire for learning, as well as his love of country, 
were strengthened by this course of reading ; so he resolved to 
remove to Natick, Massachusetts, where he could earn much 
more in making brogans, and, at the same time enjoy greater 
facilities for mental impovement. 

In twenty years from the time he began to make brogans 
in Natick, he became United States senator, taking the seat 
vacated by Hon. Edward Everett. In less than forty years 
from the time he became the " Natick cobbler," he was vice- 
president of the United States. 

His single aim made it possible for him to surmount the 
difficulties and endure the privations that crowded between 
these two extremes. 

When a southern member of the United States Senate 
called northern workingmen " mud-sills," Mr. Wilson rose in 
his seat, with the fire of indignation flashing in his eyes, and 
repelled the charge, saying : — 

"Poverty cast her dark and chilling shadow over the home 
of my childhood and want was there sometimes, an unbidden 
guest. At the age of ten years, to aid him who gave me 



SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 293 

being in keeping the gaunt specter from the hearth of the 
mother who bore me, I left the home of my boyhood, and 
went to earn my bread by daily labor."' 

It was such a fearless, withering rebuke of Southern aris- 
tocracy, that despised honest toil, as to fairly make it stagger. 

Such men as Wilson, under the control of a lofty aim from 
boyhood, have made our country what it is — its commerce, 
manufactures, mechanic arts, liberty, learning, government, 
and Christian institutions. 

As the burning-glass focalizes the rays of the sun upon 
a single point, increasing the heat a hundredfold, so single- 
ness of purpose concentrates the mighty native powers of 
these men upon the nation to push it forward in the path to 
glory. 

It is the absence of this magical quality that leaves thou- 
sands of youth to waste their lives in changing from one occu- 
pation to another, bringing nothing to pass, and accomplish- 
ing nothing for their country or race. 

Some of them try to do too little ; others, too much. 

The latter class have "too many irons in- the fire," and so 
they spoil all. We know that Dr. Adam Clark claimed that 
a resolute man cannot have too many irons in the fire. He 
said, "Keep them all agoing, poker, tongs, and all." 

But there is the trouble. Not one in a thousand can " keep 
them all agoing " ; they have neither tact nor wisdom enough 
for that. Trying to take care of too many irons, they burn 
the whole. 

"The master of one trade will support a wife and seven 
children, and the master of seven will not support himself." 

Even Napoleon, who exclaimed when told that the Alps 
were in the way of his armies, " Then there shall be no Alps ! " 
and built the Simplon Road over almost inaccessible heights, 
— even he had too many irons in the fire at Waterloo, and, 
in consequence, lost all. 

The men who look into everything are the ones who see 
into nothing. Let them look into one thing until they look it 
through, and they will finally see into everything. 

Another New Hampshire boy was bent on teaching school. 
He began to teach in his native town at fifteen years of age. 
By the best improvement of his time, he was qualified to 
teach at that early age in that locality. He resolved to make 



294 LEADERS OF MEN. 

it his life pursuit, but his father opposed him in this decision, 
and would grant him no aid. 

But this noble purpose held the son's soul so firmly within 
its power that obstacles and opposition only intensified his 
aim. He packed up his few effects, and started on foot for 
Boston. He began to sweep and chore at Bryant & Stratton's 
Commercial College to pay his way, for he had only eighteen 
cents in his pocket when he reached the city. At the same 
time, he pursued his studies with more earnestness than ever. 
Within a few months he was promoted from janitor to 
teacher ; and, in ten years more, he owned the institution at 
the head of which he has been for twenty years. 

There is no grander spectacle than that of a youth gird- 
ing his loins for the battle of life, his sharp eye upon the flam- 
ing goal in the distance, his soul on fire with enthusiasm for 
victory, and all barriers crumbling beneath his feet. 

These are the few who were not born to die. They live for 
one noble object, and so they live for all. 

Agassiz was so consecrated to the one great purpose of his 
life that he said to a lyceum committee who proposed to pay 
him three hundred dollars each for a course of six lectures, " I 
cannot afford to lecture for money."' Something higher and 
nobler engrossed his soul — success in his life work. He lived 
for that, and so made all knowledge and science grander. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS. 



HIS CONCEPTION OF SUCCESS THE OFFICE OF CARDINAL HIS BIRTH- 
PLACE THE CARDINAL'S CATHEDRAL EARLY TRAINING FIRST PRIESTLY 

LABORS MADE BISHOP ATTENDS THE OECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF 18C9 

AT RICHMOND ARCHBISHOP AT FORTY-THREE CHARACTERISTICS ■ 

HABITS THIRD PLENARY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE THE CATHOLIC UNI- 
VERSITY CREATED CARDINAL A WELL-ROUNDED CHARACTER HOME 

SURROUNDINGS IN PUBLIC LIFE. DUTY. 

My idea of success differs somewhat from that received 
generally, when regarded from the mere human, realistic, 
or utilitarian standpoint. Success, from a 
Christian standpoint, consists more in the 
supernatural perfection of intellect and will, 
than in the attainment of mere material 
advantages. The success of man must be 
measured not only by the brief span of life 
which measures his earthly existence, but 
it must reach into the life beyond the grave. 

y Success which has only time and a transitory 

■»"> existence as its object is, according to the 

Christian's idea, only secondary. 
True success is attained by the conscientious discharge of 
duty, and by firm adherence to principle. The man who 
keeps his destiny before his eyes, and who sacrifices neither 
duty nor principle, will be a success. 




/< 



<l^>vce</ 



^«VvV. ^/,Oirir rH4 



HE position of a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church 

is one of the greatest importance, and accompanied by 

no little difficulty. The bishops are the rulers of the 

Church, each one standing in the same relation to the 

entire body, as the governors of provinces to the nation, with 

the superadded dignity, that they share in the universal gov- 



296 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ernment of the Church and have each a voice in her councils. 
The miter means increased honor, but it also means an 
increase of care and solicitude. The bishop has to deal with 
his superiors at Rome, with his equals in the hierarchy, and 
with his inferiors, the priests and people of his diocese. He 
has, also, to uphold the honor of the Church before the public 
at large, and, in a country like this, where so many critical 
eyes are upon him, where a fierce light beats around his 
throne, he requires more than the ordinary amount of cau- 
tion. All this is still more true of a cardinal, one who has 
reached the highest dignity in the power of the Sovereign 
Pontiff to bestow. The cardinal is a prince, he enters into 
relations with crowned heads, he becomes ipso facto interna- 
tional, and, as one of the papal electors, and himself a possible 
candidate for the papacy, he draws the eyes of the world to 
himself. 

Twice in the history of the American Church, one of its 
prelates was raised to the purple, the late Cardinal McCloskey, 
Archbishop of New York, and the subject of this sketch, His 
Eminence James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore. The out- 
lines of the life here drawn will show in what manner Cardi- 
nal Gibbons prepared himself for the honors that awaited 
him, and how he has borne them. 

Baltimore has been the home of Cardinal Gibbons during 
the greater part of his life. There are few, if any, of whom 
it may be said what is a unique fact in the life of our Ameri- 
can cardinal. He was baptized, ordained, consecrated, and 
he received the cardinal's birretta in the same church, the 
one which is now his cathedral, and where, according to all 
probability his obsequies will be held, and in which his re- 
mains will lie beside those of most of his illustrious predeces- 
sors. The Cardinal is thus completely identified with his 
cathedral, which is one of the oldest edifices in his native 
Baltimore, and one of the oldest Catholic churches north of 
that portion of the United States which once formed part of 
the Spanish and French dominions. The corner stone of this 
venerable edifice was laid by Archbishop Carroll, but it was 
not dedicated until 1818, by Archbishop Marechal, the second 
successor of Carroll. It has witnessed the growth of the 
Catholic church in the United States, and three national and 
a number of provincial councils have been held within its 



JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS. 297 

walls, wherein, at one time or another, the voice of the most 
illustrious bishops of the church has been heard. Sixty-seven 
years ago an infant was held over the baptismal font in this 
sacred edifice, who, in after years, was to be seated on its 
archiepiscopal throne. This was James Gibbons, born on 
July 23, 1834. His early years were spent in Ireland, the land 
of his ancestors, and there he received confirmation from a 
man whose name and deeds will long be remembered in the 
Irish Church, the great John Mac Hale, Archbishop of Tuam. 

In 1853, James Gibbons returned to the country of his birth, 
and took up his abode in the far South, in beautiful New 
Orleans. His sojourn in Louisiana, the land of sunshine and 
flowers, was brief, for, feeling the call to the priesthood, he 
placed himself under the care of the Sulpitian Fathers, to 
whom the cardinal has ever remained sincerely attached. 
He graduated at their college of St. Charles near Ellicott City 
in 1857, and proceeded thence to the higher studies in St. 
Mary's Seminary, at Baltimore. 

The learned Kenrick was, at that time, Archbishop of 
Baltimore, and the imposition of his hands made James 
Gibbons a priest in the cathedral on June 30, 1861. The 
country was then passing through the crisis of the Civil War, 
but the young priest had a mission of peace to fulfill, to which 
he has ever remained faithful ; the tocsin of war was not for 
him. 

At the junction of Broadway and Bank street, a splendid 
Gothic edifice commands to-day our admiration. This is St. 
Patrick's. It is only a few years since it was dedicated upon 
the site of another church, one of Baltimore's landmarks, old 
St. Patrick's, older than the cathedral and inseparably con- 
nected with the memory of its first pastor, that type of mon- 
archical France, the Abbe Moranville, and with Father James 
Dolan, who has left a monument in the hearts of those who 
knew him. It was to the latter, that the Rev. James Gibbons 
was appointed assistant, old St. Patrick's becoming thus the 
first scene of his priestly labors. His activity at St. Patrick's 
was brief, for he was soon appointed pastor of St. Bridget's, 
Canton, having under his care the Catholics of Locust Point, 
and the garrison at Fort McHenry. In this position he 
remained until 1865. In the meantime a change had taken 
place in Baltimore, for the venerated Kenrick had died two 



298 LEADERS OF MEN. 

days after the Battle of Gettysburg, and the following year, 
the Right Rev. Martin John Spalding, Bishop of Louisville, 
Kentucky, had succeeded to the archiepiscopal See of Balti- 
more. It did not take Archbishop Spalding long to become 
acquainted with the merits of the unassuming young priest 
who was filling the arduous duties of his pastorate, in an 
obscure suburb of Baltimore, and, in 1865, the prelate took 
him to the cathedral, and appointed him Chancellor of the 
diocese. The following year was an important one in the 
history of the Church in America, and it afforded Father 
Gibbons an excellent opportunity to bring his talents into 
action, thus raising him still higher upon the candlestick. 
On October 7, 1866, the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore 
was convened by the Archbishop, and the Rev. James Gibbons 
was one of its chancellors. Little did he dream then, that he 
would preside at the next one, as successor in the See of 
Baltimore. The young priest was thus brought into contact 
with the entire American Church, for there were present seven 
archbishops, thirty-eight bishops, three mitered abbots, and 
more than one hundred and twenty theologians,— a larger 
synodical body than had met anywhere in the Church, since 
the Council of Trent, and yet small, when compared to the 
Third Plenary Council, over which Archbishop Gibbons was 
to preside. Among the distinguished persons who witnessed 
its closing ceremonies, was Andrew Johnson, president of the 
United States. 

Two years later, Rev. James Gibbons was made bishop, at 
the early age of thirty-four. In March, 1868, a bull of Pope 
Pius IX. erected the state of North Carolina into a Vicariate 
Apostolic. This territory, from a human standpoint, was 
most uninviting to a bishop, but it afforded a magnificent field 
for the exercise of zealous labor. The entire district con- 
tained only three Catholic Churches, two or three priests, and 
about one thousand Catholics. It was over this portion of the 
vineyard that Father Gibbons was appointed Vicar Apostolic, 
in August, 1868. Archbishop Spalding, his friend and patron, 
consecrated him Bishop of Adramytum, the title he bore, 
until he was promoted to the See of Richmond. The conse- 
cration took place in the Cathedral of Baltimore, and Bishop 
Gibbons entered his vicariate soon after, on All Saints' Day. 
The new prelate did not allow the grass to grow under his 



JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS. 299 

feet, nor did he eat the bread of idleness, for, in a short time, 
he had built six churches, and prepared and ordained a num- 
ber of priests. He began his labors, by opening a school 
which he personally conducted, and, traveling over the state, 
he made the acquaintance of every adult Catholic in his 
vicariate. Neglecting no opportunity of doing good, he would 
preach at all times, and everywhere, and I have heard the 
Cardinal relate how he preached in a Protestant Church, 
from a Protestant pulpit, to a Protestant congregation, that 
had been summoned together by a Protestant bell. Seeing 
how little the Catholic Church was known and understood, 
he determined to spread the knowledge of it by means of 
the press. " The Faith of our Fathers," a brief exposition of 
Catholic doctrine soon established his reputation as an author, 
as well by the solidity of the matter it contained, as by the 
controversy it evoked. It has gone through many editions, 
and it has been translated into a number of languages. We 
may say. that no Catholic book published in this country has 
met with such success. 

Shortly after his appointment as Vicar Apostolic of North 
Carolina, one of those opportunities was presented to Bishop 
Gibbons, such as come into the life of few Catholic bishops. 
Since the Council of Trent, in the sixteenth century, the 
entire Church had never been convened in an oecumenical 
council, until in 1869, that of the Vatican met at Rome. 
Bishop Gibbons, in company with Archbishop Spalding, at- 
tended its sessions. There he had an opportunity, not only of 
frequently meeting the great Pius IX., but of coming into 
contact with the most eminent members of the hierarchy 
throughout the world. There was Dupanloup, Bishop of 
Orleans, Von Ketteler of Mayence, Deschamps of Malines, 
Manning of Westminster, Pecci, the future Leo XIII., and a 
host of others, while that clever diplomatist and statesman, 
Antonelli, was still at the head of affairs at Rome. But the 
council was of short duration, for the thunders of Victor 
Emmanuel's artillery were soon heard approaching the 
Eternal City, and the Fathers of the Council, among them 
Bishop Gibbons, returned home, the council being suspended. 

Bishop Gibbons had been four years presiding over the 
Church of North Carolina, when the death of Bishop McGill 
left the See of Richmond vacant. The Vicar Apostolic of 



300 LEADERS OF MEN. 

North Carolina was promoted to it on July 30, 1872, the same 
day on which the Bishop of Newark, James Roosevelt Bailey, 
was appointed to succeed the late Archbishop Spalding, who 
had died the preceding February. When Bishop Bailey re- 
ceived the pallium from Archbishop Wood of Philadelphia, 
the new Bishop of Richmond was present in the sanctuary of 
the Cathedral of Baltimore. 

Bishop Gibbons, at the head of the diocese of Richmond, 
true to his antecedents, continued to walk in the footsteps of 
his zealous predecessor, and, under his influence, the Church 
in Virginia received a fresh impulse. New churches were 
built, while parochial schools, and institutions of charity 
sprang up on all sides. 

He had labored nearly five years in Richmond, when the 
declining health of Archbishop Bailey rendered the appoint- 
ment of a coadjutor necessary. The Bishop of Richmond 
was named to this office with the title of Bishop of Jinopolis 
in July, 1877. The archbishop died the following October, 
and the coadjutor bishop succeeded him. Thus was James 
Gibbons, at the age of forty-three, archbishop of the first See 
in the United States, and seated on the episcopal throne in 
the cathedral that had witnessed his baptism, his ordination, 
and his consecration. He found the diocese of Baltimore in 
a flourishing condition, owing to the zealous labors of his pred- 
ecessors and their efficient co-workers, but he has doubled 
the talents confided to his care. In the silence of his solemn 
cathedral, when in the lengthening shades of evening, he 
kneels before the altar, at that hour when memory loves to 
linger on the past, how many scenes must return to the 
Cardinal's mind ! Of all the old familiar faces of his early 
priesthood that flit before his memory, few are left. Kenrick 
and Spalding are sleeping beneath the high altar ; Dubreuil, 
the venerable president of St. Mary's Seminary, is resting 
under the old chapel of his former abode, not many squares 
away ; McColgan, Dolan, McManus, Gately, Foley, and many 
more have all left for their eternal home ; another Foley wears 
the miter in a distant state, and the Cardinal finds himself 
almost the senior priest in his diocese. 

And how many things have happened in these twenty-four 
years ! Churches that did not then exist, are now in a 
flourishing condition ; the younger, and larger portion of the 



JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS. 301 

clergy is almost entirely the creation of the Cardinal, whose 
paternal government of his diocese and whose prudent and 
peace-loving disposition have made him respected, admired, 
and beloved by all classes of the community. Often have 
those outside of the .Catholic Church spoken in the highest 
terms of Cardinal Gibbons, for he has known how to draw 
hearts to himself, without surrendering one iota of principle, 
as his sermons and public utterances testify. Even those 
who may differ from his opinions, have the greatest respect 
for his judgment, and he has enjoyed the esteem and con- 
fidence of the greatest men in the land. 

In company, the Cardinal is unassuming, like all men of a 
truly great soul, and he knows how to descend to the level of 
the humblest as well as to rise to the elevation of the loftiest. 
His conversation is of the widest range, nor does he permit it 
to lag. While alien to every species of levity, he knows how 
to appreciate and enjoy wit and repartee. Yet, in general, he 
is of a serious bent of mind, and he seems naturally to incline 
towards subjects more or less useful. Whenever the Cardinal 
invites the priests to walk with him, as he has occasionally 
invited a great number, the conversation has spontaneously 
drifted to religion, social economy, literature, and kindred 
subjects, and the same tendency on his part is noticed in a 
general conversation. 

The Cardinal is a great and habitual walker. Twice a 
day, morning and evening, the Cardinal indulges in a walk, 
and he can outwalk the youngest. The figure of Cardinal 
Gibbons on the aristocratic Charles, or the busy Baltimore 
street, is a familiar one to every Baltimorian, and for all he has 
a graceful bow, or a kindly nod, not disdaining to exchange 
an occasional word with some old woman, or little newsboy. 
The Cardinal is of the utmost regularity of habits, rising and 
retiring at the same hours, and having a fixed time for every 
detail of work, devotion, or recreation. His is a busy life, for 
he is in communication with all parts of the world, and let- 
ters pour in upon him from all sides, yet he has found time to 
devote his leisure moments to writing, and, within these last 
few years, he has given to the world " Our Christian Herit- 
age," and ''The Ambassador of Christ,*' the latter being an 
admirable book for the clergy. 

This glimpse of what might be named the inner life of the 



302 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Cardinal causes us to turn aside for a moment from the con- 
sideration of that which is more known to the public at large. 
Besides the ordinary course of events, more or less similar to 
those of every diocese, we find in the record of the diocese of 
Baltimore, and in the life of Cardinal Gibbons certain great 
facts that have given him a place in history, and a niche in 
the temple of fame. To these belong pre-eminently the Third 
Plenary Council of Baltimore, and the establishment of the 
Catholic University. 

In 1883, Archbishop Gibbons went to Rome, together with 
the other archbishops of the country, and the preliminary 
arrangements were made for the Third Plenary Council of 
Baltimore. This was a great event in the history of the 
American Church. Archbishop Gibbons was appointed Apos- 
tolic delegate, and, under his presidency, the council met at 
Baltimore in November, 1884. It was now eighteen years 
since that other council in which the Reverend James Gib- 
bons, then a young priest, had taken part under Archbishop 
Spalding. Many of the fathers of that body passed away, 
and others among them, Archbishop Gibbons himself, had 
taken their place. A comparison of the numbers of those 
who assisted at both councils will give an idea of the growth 
of the Catholic Church in the United States during the period 
which had just elapsed. There were present at the Second 
Plenary Council, seven archbishops, thirty-eight bishops, three 
miterecl abbots, and over one hundred and twenty priests. At 
the Third Plenary Council, the number of archbishops had 
been doubled, and that of the bishops was fifty-seven, besides 
four administrators of sees, and one prefect apostolic. There 
were six mitered abbots, ten monsignori, thirty-one superiors 
of religious orders, eleven presidents of seminaries, and 
eighty -eight theologians. It was indeed an imposing sight 
wheiij on the day of the opening of the council, the procession 
marched to the cathedral, the bishops in miter and cope, and 
the rest of the clergy, regular and secular, in their respective 
habits. The effect of the Third Plenary Council upon the 
Church in America has been immense, and the Catholic 
religion received a fresh impulse. The Holy See showed its 
appreciation of the services which Archbishop Gibbons had 
rendered, by appointing him cardinal the following year. 
The venerable Archbishop Kenrick of St. Louis, whose brother 



JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS. 303 

had ordained Archbishop Gibbons, bestowed upon the new 
cardinal the first insignia of his dignity in the Cathedral of 
Baltimore. 

Two years later, His Eminence went to Rome, to receive 
the cardinal's hat from the hands of His Holiness. At that 
time the question of proscribing in ecclesiastical circles the 
organization of the Knights of Labor was mooted. Certain 
prelates beheld in them a danger to the Church, and felt 
inclined to class them with forbidden secret societies. The 
Cardinal did not share this opinion, and it is due to his strenu- 
ous efforts in their behalf, during his sojourn in Rome, that 
the threatened condemnation was averted. 

It will be remembered with what enthusiasm the people of 
Baltimore received the Cardinal, on his return home. Multi- 
tudes lined the streets from his residence to the Pennsylvania 
Railroad station where he arrived, and all the Catholic 
churches sent large delegations to meet him. The cathedral 
was filled to its utmost capacity, when the red-robed Prince 
of the Church gave to the assembled multitudes his blessing 
from his episcopal throne. 

One of the great and lasting results of the Third Plenary 
Council of Baltimore, and which will long remain as its 
enduring monument, is the Catholic University of America. 
The gift of $300,000 made by Miss Mary Gwendoline Caldwell 
to the Council, rendered the beginning of the university pos- 
sible. No time was lost in the preliminaries, and, four years 
after the Council, on May 24, 1888, the corner stone of the new 
university was laid in the outskirts of Washington, D. C, by 
His Eminence, the Cardinal. The following year, on Novem- 
ber 13, the Cardinal dedicated the Divinity building, and the 
Catholic University of America was thus launched forth, 
under favorable auspices, and the chancellorship of the Car- 
dinal. The diocese of Baltimore celebrated about the same 
time the one hundredth anniversary of its existence, and, to 
commemorate the event, the first congress of Catholic laymen 
was held in the city of Baltimore. A few years later, Cardi- 
nal Gibbons celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his 
episcopal consecration amid a splendid gathering of prelates, 
priests, and people who had come from all parts of the coun- 
try, to do honor to His Eminence. The Pope himself sent a 
testimonial of his regard, which was presented to the Cardinal 



304 LEADERS OF MEN. 

by Dr. Rooker of the American College, who had been deputed 
for the purpose by His Holiness. 

The life of Cardinal Gibbons has been an eminently suc- 
cessful one from every standpoint. Always priestly, and 
filled with the sacerdotal spirit, his private life is open to the 
severest criticism, and he may well be held up to his clergy 
as a model, for he has taught them by his example, as well 
as by his word. He is always present at their annual retreats, 
going through the exercises like the youngest priest, and 
listening with the greatest attention to the conferences. He 
always closes the retreat himself, delivering his yearly admo- 
nitions. He is seldom or never absent from their theological 
conferences, and a letter to the diocesan chancery is sure of 
an immediate reply. There is no red tape necessary to be 
admitted to the presence of His Eminence, for his manners 
are simplicity itself, and he is truly a democratic American 
citizen. His dwelling, his room, all denote the simplicity of 
his character, and one will seek in vain at his residence for 
that luxury which so frequently marks the houses of the 
great. Besides some good old paintings on the walls, there is 
little that will command attention in the Cardinal's residence, 
if we except the large library, and that most valuable collec- 
tion of archives. Laymen and strangers generally are re- 
ceived by the Cardinal in his parlor, but his own priests, who 
know his hours, have to go through no other formality than 
that of knocking at his door. 

In his public life, the Cardinal has been no less successful, 
and he has steadily risen from honor to honor, without a cloud 
to darken the horizon of his fame. He has been able to avoid 
those conflicts that come into the lives of some men, and he 
has made himself respected by his peaceable disposition, 
without sacrificing a principle, or compromising his dignity. 
Obedient to the teachings of his Divine Master, he has known 
how to practice forbearance, and pardon faults, and, if any- 
thing is absent from the Cardinal's disposition, it is a revenge- 
ful temper. 

His caution and prudence are well known, and, like many 
great men, he is fond of taking counsel, even in such matters 
as the composition of his works. Though a true ecclesiastic, 
he knows how to appreciate the spirit of the age, and utilize 
whatever of good there is in it. His sermons are character- 




CARDINAL GIBBONS. 




DUTY. 30? 

ized by those happy thoughts, and bright flashes that render 
the words of a speaker so agreeable and impressive. In a 
word, one does not make the acquaintance of Cardinal Gib- 
bons, without a feeling of satisfaction, that one has learned to 
know a great and good man, who deserves the honors it has 
pleased Providence to bestow upon him. 

Looking back over the years of his episcopate, it must, 
indeed, be a great satisfaction to the Cardinal to contemplate 
the progress made by the Church, since the Third Plenary 
Council, and the share he has had in the work. 

DUTY. 

F all the watchwords of life, duty is the highest and 
best. He who sincerely adopts it lives a true life ; he 
is really the successful one. It pertains to all parts 
and relations of life. There is no moment, place, or 

condition, where its claims are not imperative. The poet 

states it well, — 

" I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty ; 
I woke, and found that life was Duty."' 

A thousand years after an eruption of Vesuvius had 
buried Pompeii beneath its burning lava, explorers laid bare 
the ruins of the ill-fated city. There the unfortunate inhabit- 
ants were found just where they were overtaken by the stream 
of fire. Some were discovered in lofty attics, and some in 
deep cellars, whither they had fled before the approaching 
desolation. Others were found in the streets, through which 
they were fleeing in wild despair when the tide of molten 
death overwhelmed them. But the Roman sentinel was found 
standing at his post, his skeleton hand still grasping the hilt 
of his sword, his attitude that of a faithful officer. He was 
placed there on duty, and death met him at his post, — the 
fearless sentinel that he was. Not even the bursting of a 
volcano, with its deluge of fire descending upon him, could 
drive him from his post, or disturb his self-control. It was a 
sense of duty that kept him true, an example of fidelity to 
a sacred trust ; and to-day his helmet, lance, and breastplate 
are preserved in Naples as a tribute to his memory. 

Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, 



308 LEADERS OF MEN. 

used to say to her pupils : " Go where duty calls. Take hold, 
if necessary, where no one else will." Duty, as a watchword 
and inspiration, she kept before them constantly. Personal 
obligation, instead of personal emolument or fame, she be- 
sought them to remember. At length a contagious and fatal 
disease broke out in the seminary, and the first victim was 
lying at the door of death. Pupils were filled with alarm, 
many hastening to pack their trunks and leave for home. A 
scene of confusion and dismay followed. Miss Lyon, with 
surprising self-possession and serenity, called the pupils 
together to allay their fears, and impart lessons such as the 
occasion suggested to her mind. " Shall we fear what God 
is about to do ? " she said. " There is nothing in the universe 
that I fear, but that I shall not know all my duty, or fail to 
do it." On the following day the dreaded malady prostrated 
her, and, in a single week, she passed to the spirit land. 
Her last lesson was on duty, and her last act was meeting its 
demand. 

Unlike Napoleon or Alexander, Nelson's watchword was 
duty. He never fought for fame. His ambition was subject 
to personal obligation. " England this day expects each man 
to do his duty," were the words emblazoned upon his colors in 
the battle of Trafalgar. If each man did his duty, the victory 
would be complete ; if each fought for fame, the battle would 
be lost. Duty is so much higher than glory, and so much 
more inspiring, that victories hang upon it. At this last and 
crowning conflict at Trafalgar, he was mortally wounded, but 
lived to know that his triumph was complete, and expired, 
saying, " Thank God, I have done my duty." 

Of the same type was Wellington, who once said to a 
friend : " There is little or nothing in this life worth living 
for ; but we can all of us go straight forward and do our 
duty." Whether serving at home in his family, or serving 
his country on the field, one high, noble purpose inspired him, 
— duty. He did not ask, Will this course win fame ? Will 
this battle add to my earthly glory ? But always, What 
is duty ? He did what duty commanded, and followed 
where it led. It was his firm adherence to what he thought 
was right, that brought down upon him the violence of a mob 
in the streets of London, assaulting his person and attacking 
his house, when his wife lay dead therein. 



DUTY. 309 

When Sidney, the immortal English patriot, was told that 
he could save his life by denying his own handwriting, and 
thus tell a falsehood, he replied, " When God has brought me 
into a dilemma, in which I must assert a lie or lose my life, 
he gives me a clear indication of my duty, which is to prefer 
death to falsehood." A higher sense of duty, or personal 
respect for it, is not found recorded. It hallows human life 
by making death a secondary consideration. 

While I am now Writing, the. news comes that a fearful 
conflagration has licked up five million dollars in the heart of 
Boston within a few hours. The heroic firemen found them- 
selves engaged in an equal contest with the fiery demon, and 
yet they staked their lives on the issue, and four brave fel- 
lows went down beneath crumbling walls in their efforts to 
conquer. They perished in the discharge of duty. 

The foregoing facts, better than argument, show both the 
nature and place of duty in the work of life. We see it in 
practical operation, always timely, honorable, and attractive. 
It cannot be discounted or even smirched. It stands out in 
bold relief, supported by a clear conscience and strong will. 
It demands recognition, and gets it. 

Duty is something that must be done without regard to 
discomfort, sacrifice, or death ; and it must be done in secret, 
as well as in public. 

The doer is not a " creature of circumstances" ; he is master 
of circumstances. The power of a trained conscience and 
invincible will makes him superior to all surroundings, and 
the discharge of duty becomes at once inevitable and easy. 

Luther was warned against appearing before one Duke 
George, because he was his bitter enemy, but he replied, "I 
will go if it rains Duke Georges all the while, for duty calls." 
" I am ready not only to be bound, but to die at Jerusalem," 
replied Paul to weeping companions who besought him not to 
risk his life in that wicked city. Duty was paramount to all 
things else ; it was second to nothing on earth. 

In the daily affairs of life, whether the most important or 
the least, duty should command. Youth must come under its 
control as well as age. The earlier its demands are honored 
in the home, social circle, shop, school, or college, the easier 
will be its service, and the larger satisfaction will it yield. 
Obedience to the behests of duty, and the ruling desire to be 



310 LEADERS OF MEN. 

useful, are cardinal elements of success. It is a trumpet call 
that duty sounds, at which all the nobler attributes of man- 
hood spring into life. 

Smiles says, " Duty is the end and aim of the highest life ; 
it alone is true ; " and George Herbert says, " The conscious- 
ness of duty performed ' gives us music at midnight.' " 

Closely allied with duty is the choice of permanent values. 
It is a waste of time to seek a good thing that will last only a 
day or a year. A transient blessing may be desirable in itself, 
but if a permanent one can be secured by like effort in its 
stead, it is a very unwise use of time to try for the former 
instead of the latter. We ought to measure good things by 
the length of time they will be good. What will help us far 
away in manhood, as well as now, is surely more desirable 
than what will help us only now. Its real worth must be alto- 
gether greater. Four years in college may be of some service 
to a young man who means to be a trader or manufacturer, 
but if the same four years in actual business will be a better 
preparation for his life work, the latter is worth more than 
the former to him, and he ought to choose it. 

Education is a good thing for anyone, for it lasts through 
life, and even serves manhood better than it does boyhood. 
Hence it is of the highest value, — valuable for what it is 
to-day, more valuable for what it is to-morrow, and most val- 
uable for what it is through life. Permanent values are 
always far more desirable than transient ones ; and in seek- 
ing them there is higher discipline and more character. 

Robert Bloomfield was a poor boy, but he kept his eye on 
manhood. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker when he was 
quite young, but he expected to enjoy something better than 
that when he became a man. He wanted an education ; it 
was the dream of his early life, but if he acquired it, his own 
persistent efforts must do it. Reading might lead to it ; he 
would try it. His leisure moments became his most valuable 
time, a book being his constant companion. One was placed 
on a frame beside his work-bench, that he might read a sen- 
tence now and then when he could look away from his work 
for a moment. Evenings until late at night, and early in the 
morning before going to his daily task, reading was his pas- 
time. Here was all the seminary and college he could ever 
enjoy. He must make the most of his spare hours now, or he 



DUTY. 311 

could never realize the fulfillment of his hopes in manhood. 
He was after what was not only a good thing now, but some- 
thing that would be vastly better for his mature life. Thus 
animated by a lofty aim, he applied himself to self-improve- 
ment year after year, and at forty years of age he was a 
famous scholar. The fulfillment of his hopes was realized, 
and his soul was satisfied, for he had secured what would be 
to him the richest boon through the remainder of his life. 
Before his death he ranked among the most learned men of 
his day. 

Robert Bloomfield sought and found what was good at the 
start, and what continued to be good to the end of his life. 
Such should be the aim of every youth — choosing things per- 
manent rather than those of transient value. Herein lies the 
great worth of honesty, industry, benevolence, punctuality, 
and kindred virtues : time does not limit their practical use, 
for they are just as practical and valuable in age as they are 
in youth. It is not so with wealth. Riches take to them- 
selves wings and fly away. They often vanish when men 
least expect it, and even if they remain, they may prove a 
snare and a curse. And the same is true of honor and fame ; 
they are uncertain possessions. Unlike honesty, and the 
train of virtues mentioned, they may sadly disappoint us. 
Honesty is never disappointing, and it always stays where it 
is really wanted. Its market value is never fluctuating ; it is 
always at par, or above — never below. We can say of it as 
the apostle did of charity, "it never faileth." If we could 
say the same of money and fame, their values would be 
vastly augmented. But we cannot, and so their real worth is 
materially impaired. 

Stephen Girard placed the highest value upon wealth. 
Neither learning nor a "good name'"' were of much account 
to him in comparison with money. All things were appraised 
according to their fitness to produce riches. That which 
would yield the most dollars in the shortest time was the 
most valuable to him. Wealth poured into his coffers, of 
course, under this regime. Fortune was piled upon fortune. 
The more he got, the more he wanted. The passion for get- 
ting increased to a mania. The use of money was scarcely 
thought of — only its possession ; it was valued for its own 
sake. And, after a long life of drudgery, with none of that 



312 LEADERS OF MEN. 

peace and sweetness that should have been infused into it, he 
was forced to quit this world without a till in his coffin, or a 
pocket in his shroud. It must have been a sore disappoint- 
ment to leave these earthly conveniences on this side of the 
grave, but such is the way with acquisitions that do not last. 
The folly of choosing the transient instead of the permanent 
is finally manifest. 

Youth is the period of discipline ; and discipline, true and 
thorough, is a blessing that lasts beyond this life. Whether 
it be an education that is sought, or a trade, or an art, disci- 
pline is the blessing that should result — discipline of the 
threefold nature, physical, mental, and moral. This pays 
well for the most self-sacrificing and persistent effort in any 
and every pursuit ; nobler manhood and womanhood is surer 
to be. It is this thought and aim that should be uppermost, 
whether a person be engaged in manual labor, reading, study, 
or other necessary effort ; discipline should be the one grand 
acquisition sought, because, like the charity of inspiration, it 
will last forever. " Charity never faileth ; but whether there 
be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, they 
shall cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish 
away." 

Horace Greeley possessed so many attributes of the suc- 
cessful man that frequent reference to him is indispensable. 
Few men illustrate the subject in hand so well as he. From 
his boyhood, he had an eye upon permanent values. All 
through his life that which was of general utility for the 
longest time won his support, whether it was a book, utensil, 
machine, coat, daily paper, or a virtue. He was a stalwart 
foe to pretentious display, the spirit of caste, fashion, and 
the undue deference paid to wealth and position. These were 
transitory things, and, therefore, comparatively valueless. 

He once wrote of the man who has run the race of life : 
"Ask not whether he has or has not been successful, accord- 
ing to the vulgar standard of success. What matters it now 
whether the multitude has dragged his chariot, rending the 
air with idolizing acclamations, or howled like wolves on his 
track, as he fled by night from the fury of those he had wasted 
his vigor to serve ? What avails it that broad lands have 
rewarded his toils, or that all has, at the last moment been 
stricken from his grasp ? Ask not whether he brings into 



DUTY. 313 

retirement the wealth of the Indies, or the poverty of the 
bankrupt, whether his couch be of down or of rushes, his 
dwelling a hut or a mansion. He has lived to little purpose, 
indeed, if he has not long since realized that wealth and 
renown are not the true ends of exertion, nor their absence the 
conclusive proof of ill fortune. Whoever seeks to know if his 
career has been prosperous and brightening from its outset to 
its close, if the evening of his days shall be genial and bliss- 
ful, should ask not for broad acres, nor towering edifices, nor 
laden coffers. Perverted old age may grasp these with the 
unyielding clutch of insanity, but they add to his cares and 
anxieties, not to his enjoyments. Ask, rather, Has he mas- 
tered and harmonized his erring passions ? Has he lived a 
true life ? " 

These words indicate the trend of the writer's life, — to per- 
manent values. That he may have carried his views to an 
extreme will not be denied. He might have selected a hand- 
some coat instead of a homely one, when he chose the most 
durable ; his manners might have been simple, sincere, and 
polite, without being awkward or odd. There is a permanent 
value with grace, as there is a transient value with it. The 
first should be sought and found. 



CHAPTER XV. 

EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 

ON "WHAT CAREER" PART IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY CELEBRA- 
TION IN BOSTON DIVISIONS OF HIS CAREER — AS A JOURNALIST — AS A 

CHRISTIAN MINISTER SOCIAL REFORMER — PUBLICIST AND PATRIOT 

CHARACTER OF HIS WRITINGS AS AN EDUCATOR ANTIQUARIAN HIS 

VIEWS AS TO THE PURPOSES OF LIFE HIS UPLIFTING PERSONALITY. NOT 

ABOVE ONE'S BUSINESS. 




It is better to do one thing well than two things by halves ; 
better to learn one thing thoroughly than to get a smattering 
of two ; better to stick to one duty till it is 
finished than to make two beginnings. 

When the occupation is chosen, and pre- 
pared for, consecrate yourself to it that its 
work shall be well done. "Be ye perfect, 
even as your Father which is in Heaven is 
perfect." That is the rule. Whatever you 
do, do that work well. Do it as a leader 
does it, and, above all, do not blow your own 
trumpets ; nor, which is the same thing, ask 
other people to blow them. No trumpeter 
ever rose to be a general. If the power to lead is in you, 
other men will follow. If it is not in you, nothing will make 
them follow. It is for you to find the eternal law of the 
universe and to put yourself in harmony with that law. 

It is not simply the training of the voice to speak ; it is not 
simply training the eye to see ; far less is it the training of 
the fingers to this service or that toil. It is that we may 
come unto a perfect man, trained in faith, hope, and love, — 
in faith to look above the world ; in hope to look beyond 
time ; in love to look outside the lesser life into that com- 
munion in which we are one with all God's children, one even 
with himself. 





EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 315 

HE twentieth century began in the city of Boston, Mass., 
with a ceremony so profoundly religious, and so en- 
^ tirely democratic and popular, that a much-traveled, 
critical, sober-minded Harvard University professor 
who carefully studied it as a social phenomenon of a unique 
kind afterward described it as the most impressive religious 
ceremony he ever had witnessed — one that had renewed his 
faith in religion and democracy. 

The man who conceived the idea of Boston in 1900 doing 
what was done in Boston in 1700, who set the Twentieth Cen- 
tury Club at work arranging for the service at the State 
House, who afterward was selected inevitably to be the 
priestly celebrant of the midnight worship, who stood on the 
balcony of the ancient building designed by Bulfinch and 
with stentorian voice in prayer and by reading 'of the Nine- 
tieth Psalm led the devotions of the several thousand inhabit- 
ants of the city who filled the streets near the State House 
and then overflowed on the historic Common, was none other 
than Edward Everett Hale, now in his eightieth year, Boston's 
leading citizen for many years, and one of the greatest— some 
would say, the greatest.— of living Americans. 

Two facts immediately arrest the attention of one who at- 
tempts to draw a pen-picture of Dr. Hale. First, the length 
of his service to mankind and the breadth of his sympathy 
and activity ; second, the individuality of his methods and 
words. The mold in which he was cast was broken at his 
birth. No one like him, or even faintly resembling him, ap- 
pears among the Bostonians or New Englanders of this gen- 
eration, or did in the one which immediately followed his 
own. 

His career as a journalist began ere he graduated from 
Harvard College in 1839, being then only seventeen years old. 
His career as a minister began in 1842; the time between this 
and 1840, when he became the pastor of the Church of the 
Unity, Worcester, Mass., being spent as a ministerial free- 
lance. His career as a learner and teacher in charitable and 
philanthropic activity began about the same time, when he 
was elected to serve on Worcester's Board of Overseers of 
the Poor. His career as a publicist began with fighting 
against the institution of human slavery, when in 1845 he 
wrote and published a pamphlet on " Emigration to Texas " : 



316 LEADERS OF MEN. 

and this was followed by acts and writings which entitled 
him to be called one of the builders of the Commonwealth of 
Kansas as a mother of men and women who love liberty and 
literacy. His career as a man of letters began with contribu- 
tions to the Rosary in 1848, and has not ceased. His career 
as an educator began as a teacher of Latin in the Boston 
Latin School during 1839-41, and since then he has held many 
responsible advisory, administrative positions, such as over- 
seer at Harvard, as trustee of Antioch College, as councilor 
of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, etc. Ob- 
viously, a life so varied in its avocations, and so long in its 
tenure, as this, must have been an exceptional one. 

To describe adequately the spirit underlying all this variety 
and range of activity, and the individual methods of thought 
and action which have stamped Dr. Hale's career, is no easy 
task. Even as his exterior is so unlike that of any other man, 
so are his methods. But the motives that have governed him 
lie open to the gaze of all ; and few men have so fully re- 
vealed their philosophy of life as Dr. Hale has in his writ-' 
ings. 

Consider first his place and his service as a journalist, — 
one who has lost money by the profession rather than one 
who has made money at the business of newspaper making ; 
one, too, who has conceived of his several journals as prisms 
for the refraction of light or torches for the warning of 
mariners, and not as mirrors with a plane surface. Samuel 
Bowles the second, greatest by far of the three editors of that 
name who have made the Springfield Republican so influen- 
tial a journal, once said to Mr. Frank Sanborn, that at that 
time " they had only one good journalist in all Boston, and 
they were spoiling him in the pulpit ! " He referred to Dr. 
Hale. Dr. Hale says of himself that he was cradled in the 
sheets of the daily newspaper — the Advertiser — which his 
father owned and edited, and it is a statement that is essen- 
tially if not literally true. Had he been content to live the 
wearing, drudging life of a journalist, he might have become 
the rival of Greeley as the molder of Northern opinion. For 
he has had three indispensable qualities of all great journal- 
ist Sj — a nervous, colloquial English style, full of life and the 
human quality ; a scent for news ; and a clean-cut, tenacious 
memory which has stored away the impressions of a vigilant 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 317 

eye and a sensitive ear, so that what he once said of Walt 
Whitman has been pre-eminently true of him : " What he has 
once seen, he has seen forever." 

But this drudgery of journalism Dr. Hale was not willing 
to endure ; so he turned to the pulpit and the pastorate. Nev- 
ertheless, in conjunction with the pastorate, he has seldom 
been without an organ of his own, or a journal in which he 
could write as he pleased. To-day he has his own depart- 
ment in the weekly organ of the Unitarian denomination, 
and he is still sponsor for the Lend a Hand Record, a monthly 
record of philanthropic deeds and plans. His most preten- 
tious and the longest-lived journal was Old and New, a high- 
grade religious and literary monthly, which finally was 
merged with Scribners Monthly. For the first year of its 
life, he was co-editor with Mr. Edwin D. Mead in producing 
the New England Magazine. 

Dr. Hale, in commenting on his career as a journalist, has 
testified to his indebtedness, as a man of many other modes 
of activity, to the training which journalism gives a man by 
teaching him to observe, to describe accurately what he 
observes and that promptly. In short, he holds that precision 
and range of sight foster insight. Swiftness and accuracy in 
forming and expressing opinion save time, lessen friction, 
and enhance authority. Dr. Hale's rules for writing are 
these : — 

1. Know what you want to say. 

2. Say it. 

3. Use your own language. 

4. Leave out all fine passages. 

5. A short word is better than a long one. 

6. The fewer words, other things being equal, the better. 

7. Cut it to pieces. 

Such rules are eloquent of practical experience as an editor. 

Dr. Hale's career as a Christian minister — he refuses to be 
called a "clergyman" — began with his licensure, in 1842. 
Then, in 1846, he went to Worcester, and in 1856 he returned 
to his native city, Boston ; and not until 1900 did he give up 
the pastorate of the South Congregational (Unitarian) Church 
or cease preaching weekly. Of this church he still is pastor 
emeritus, and in its peculiarly family -like life his spirit is 
influential. 



318 LEADERS OF MEN. 

As a Unitarian theologian, he ranks below Channing or 
Hedge. In so far as he has been a theologian, it has been as a 
teacher of the theology of the heart, and not as a speculative 
thinker. As a liberal polemicist, he is not to be mentioned 
with Theodore Parker for power. In range and accuracy of 
biblical scholarship, many of his sect have surpassed him. 
His sermons from week to week have not averaged high as 
specimens of the art of homiletical structure as taught in the 
divinity schools, too often being discursive and formless. Yet 
there are so many of them in print that it is clear that there 
often has been a popular demand for their wider circulation, 
and occasionally they are so nearly ideal in method and style 
that one is constrained to believe that had Dr. Hale concen- 
trated his powers on his pulpit ministrations he might have 
become one of the great preachers of the time. 

This much must be said of all his sermons, however : They 
always have been in language of the day and understandable 
of all men. His themes also have been contemporaneous. 
God manifesting himself in America of the nineteenth cen- 
tury has interested Dr. Hale more than the Jehovah of the 
Jews or the God of the schoolmen of the Middle Ages. His 
gospel has not been " a theologic gospel of hay or wood," and 
he has always avoided the " parsonic cadence." 

The explanation of Dr. Hale's abiding influence in his own 
church and denomination, and with the Christian public, is to 
be found in his " continuous disclosure of a beautiful spirit " 
— to apply to him a saying which Mr. Hamilton W. Mabie 
used in describing Dr. Lyman Abbott's influence in Plymouth 
Church, Brooklyn. From the first day he entered a pulpit to 
this hour, he has cared infinitely more for the kingdom of 
God than for the Church universal or local. His people have 
been taught to be charitable in spirit and deed, and, so far as 
possible, wise in their methods of doing good ; and no good 
cause, civic, educational, or philanthropic, whether national 
or local in scope, has failed to receive suggestive, intelligent 
discussion in his pulpit, and in the church's classes and con- 
ferences. To him have come for succor countless unfortu- 
nates and needy folk, who never have found him too busy to 
give counsel and practical aid. Hence, for many years he has 
been pastor at large for the city of Boston, having other men's 
burdens imposed upon him, to be sure, and occasionally being 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 319 

victimized by frauds in whose honesty he had Christlike faith, 
but never losing faith in humanity or ceasing to be fatherly, 
brotherly, and beneficent because occasionally cheated. He 
has been Boston's St. Christopher. 

As exponent of a social conception or type of Christianity, 
Dr. Hale is to this country what Maurice, Kingsley, and the 
English pioneers of this school of thought were to Great 
Britain. From the first, he has stood four-square for such a 
conception of the Church as makes it a leaven of the civic 
lump, or the salt that preserves society. This doctrine he has 
preached with voice and pen in sermons, editorials, and books 
for more than half a century ; and the precise limits of his 
influence is beyond compute. But it has been constant and 
far-reaching. 

To attempt to chronicle merely, let alone describe, the part 
played by Dr. Hale as a social reformer and as an altruist, is 
to be amazed at the prescience, the range, and the indefatiga- 
bility of the man. Just as no person deserving pity has been 
turned away from his door, so no reform movement has 
appealed in vain to him for aid. The negro as a slave, and 
the negro as a f reedman, the Indian as he was before the days 
of the annual Mohonk conference, and as he is now, and 
immigrants from Europe of all nationalities, have had a 
champion in Dr. Hale. Civil service reform, prison reform, 
the Law and Order League, know him as an advocate. 
Charity administration, whether on the old individualistic 
basis, or as at present organized, has counted him an alert 
and influential promoter. By first writing his story, " Ten 
Times One Is Ten," and thus leading up to the organizing of 
the King's Daughters and the Lend-a-Hand Clubs, and then 
by writing the story, " In His Name," Dr. Hale did more than 
any other man to enlist the youth of the country in altruistic 
service, and in a healthy, objective type of religious activity, 
his motto for them being — 

Look up, and not clown ; 
Look forward, and not back : 
Look out, and not in : 
Lend a hand. 

Previously, the type had been too subjective. 

Last in point of time, but not least in importance, of the 



320 LEADERS OF MEN. 

reforms championed by Dr. Hale has been the project of an 
international arbitration tribunal, or permanent judiciary for 
international disputes. As he scans the outcome of The 
Hague Convention of 1899, and notes its provision for the 
creation of a court of this kind, it must be a matter of much 
pride to him that as long ago as 1889 he preached in Washing- 
ton, D. C, before high officials of state, a sermon in which he 
outlined a plan very similar to that adopted at The Hague. 
Year after year he has urged this at the Mohonk conferences 
and elsewhere. 

Since 1889, Dr. Hale has repeatedly called on the nations to 
act speedily and sensibly in the matter ; and now, of course, 
his prayer is that he may survive to see the court adjudicate 
upon at least one case. Two years ago, when public senti- 
ment seemed apathetic, he went up and down the Eastern 
and Middle states for weeks, sometimes speaking every day 
in the week, to rouse America to do her part at The Hague. 
He has been the greatest inspirer among us, since Charles 
Sumner, of the spirit which demands peace on earth and the 
better organization of the world. 

As a publicist and patriot, Dr. Hale did invaluable work 
preceding the Civil War as an agitator against slavery, al- 
though he never was an extremist like William Lloyd Garri- 
son and Wendell Phillips. During the war, by such poems as 
"Take the Loan" and "Put It Through,'' he spurred the 
Northern public on to do its duty. By urging recruiting 
among his own church members and by setting the entire 
membership of his church at work in all sorts of schemes for 
bettering the lot of the Northern troops, he made the South 
Congregational Church a very live cell — to quote his own 
figure of speech — in the national cellular tissue. As director 
of the Freedmen's Aid Society, as official of the Sanitary Com- 
mission, he found ample play for his organizing power and 
skill. But these activities were comparatively restricted and 
local in their range. It was as the writer for the Atlantic of 
articles full of hope and sane optimism that Dr. Hale's influ- 
ence at this time was widest. In this periodical appeared in 
1863, his masterpiece, " A Man Without a Country," which, 
besides preaching its sermon, demonstrated that America had 
a short-story writer of the first rank ; and this at a time long- 
before the example of the French in this form of literature 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 321 

had been taken as a model by us, and so cleverly imitated or 
improved, as it has been by not a few of our authors. Curi- 
ously, the year which saw the war with Spain over Cuba open 
was the year of the largest sale of this book of Dr. Hale's. 

The son of a Whig, a Free Soiler in youth, Dr. Hale early 
took his place in the ranks of the Republican party, and has 
never left it, preferring like his life-long friend, Hon. George 
Frisbie Hoar, United States Senator from Massachusetts, to 
do his reform work as a partisan inside the breast-works, 
rather than outside with the enemy. As a clergyman, he has 
not been as prone as some of his contemporaries to prescribe 
courses of action for civil authorities. While he has ever 
stoutly maintained that in no other country in Christendom 
do Church and State so depend upon the service of substan- 
tially the same men — "The State's men being really the 
Church's men, and the Church's men really State's men," to 
quote his own words — he also has an unusually keen percep- 
tion, for one of his calling, of the practical aspects of civic 
administration and party politics, and how far and how rapidly 
it is possible to make the ideal the real in a democracy. 
Hence he never has been a clerical scold, or a maligner of 
public officials. 

His attitude may be illustrated by his course since the war 
with Spain broke out in 1898. As one conversant with Spanish 
history and character to a degree not common among Ameri- 
cans, having early in life turned his attention to Spanish and 
Latin American history, he might have been pardoned if in 
the pulpit and press he had prescribed for his countrymen a 
suitable course of action toward Spain. Other men with far 
less knowledge would have rushed to the front with their 
opinions. But Dr. Hale said or wrote nothing; and shortly 
after the war began he told his congregation that he would 
not preach about the war until he thought he knew more 
about it than the Government did. He has since said that he 
thought the responsible officials in Washington, in possession 
of all the facts, were far likelier to be right in their judgments 
than men, like himself, with a limited horizon and incom- 
plete data in possession on which to base an opinion. We 
may be sure that this is not inconsistent in Dr. Hale's mind, 
with his well-known declaration : " The People is sovereign 
here ; the People is the fountain of honor here ; the President 



322 LEADERS OF MEN. 

is the servant of the people." As an individual citizen, Dr. 
Hale believes in national expansion, and he is not fearful of a 
radical change in national ideals or temperament because of 
our acquisition of Hawaii, Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philip- 
pines. He indorses every step the administration has taken. 

As a man of letters, Dr. Hale will live longest by a few of 
his short stories, such as " My Double and How He Undid 
Me," "The Man Without a Country," and "Skeleton in the 
Closet " ; by such fragments of autobiography as his " A New 
England Boyhood," which is valuable as a record of New 
England life at the time, as well as for its revelation of per- 
sonality ; and by his reminiscent essays, in which he has 
given us vivid pen pictures of men whom he has known, like 
Emerson and Lowell. Though he has written much on his- 
tory, — American and Spanish, — enough to show what he 
might have done if he had devoted all his time to such literary 
creative work, and though it has been his favorite avocation, 
the Result is not a product destined to long life. His verse 
lacks the perfection of form of great verse. But a few of his 
ballads and hymns will always find place in American an- 
thologies and hymnals. Some of his occasional verse read at 
Harvard alumni dinners has deeply stirred those who have 
heard it. but it does not inevitably so move one who reads it. 
Dr. Hale's fertility as an author may be inferred from the 
fact that the catalogue of Harvard University has more than 
one hundred and thirty titles of books and pamphlets listed. 
His next book will be " Memoirs and Memories of the Nine- 
teenth Century," which prior to publication in book form will 
appear in the monthly issues of the Outlook. 

The larger part of Dr. Hale's writings is didactic in pur- 
pose, though in the guise of fiction, the drama, narrative, 
poetry ; and it bears upon every conceivable aspect of con- 
temporary life. Theology, literature, philanthropy, politics, 
pass in survey, and are transformed by his imagination and 
common sense into homely speech especially welcome to men 
and women altruistically inclined. He is never dull or com- 
monplace, always suggestive and practical, frequently pene- 
trating and conclusive. 

As a formal critic of literature, Dr. Hale did enough earlier 
in his career to show that he might have won fame in this 
sphere had he chosen to follow it. In this as in everything 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 323 

else he did he was unconventional, thoroughly American in 
point of view, and always approaching the author and book 
sympathetically, but candidly as well. His early review of 
Whitman's " Leaves of Grass " is one full of insight and just 
praise. 

As an educator, Dr. Hale's service has been to lend a hand 
to every scheme that has been devised to lessen illiteracy and 
popularize learning in the United States. Whether as over- 
seer of Harvard — his alma mater — or as councilor of the 
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, or as trustee of 
Antioch College, or as friend of Hampton Institute and Tuske- 
gee, his endeavor has been to make the humblest American 
eligible as a citizen of the republic of letters ; or, to quote 
his own words : " Any full view of the right of all God's chil- 
dren refuses to limit to any ' upper class ' the delights of sci- 
ence, the full range of literature, and all which we call liberal 

education The whole drift of new life, which 

opens up to everybody all literature, science, and art, means 
that every one shall have the nobler enjoyment, the higher — 
yes, the infinite — range." He never has overvalued the 
mechanism of education, and the culture of college life above 
its utilitarian, specializing tendencies and resources. He has 
insisted in season and out of season that education and not 
instruction is the prime object of school and colleges. 

In his educational, as in his political and ecclesiastical 
ideals, Dr. Hale has been a thorough democrat. His constant 
attitude, as a man of culture and letters, toward the masses 
has been this : " We are blood of their blood, bone of their 
bone. Their life is our life ; their success is our victory. As 
they step forward and upward with the weight which they 
are carrying, philosophy is more wise, and literature is more 
vital." Our sole reason for being a nation, in his view, is that 
each man may serve others, social standing depending upon 
the measure of such social service rendered by the individual. 
"Whosoever would be chief est among you shall be servant 
of all," is his motto for America, his explanation of its unique 
mission to mankind. 

No survey of Dr. Hale's career would be complete without 
some reference to his place as an orator. Whether as lecturer 
before lyceums, historical societies, Chautauqua assemblies, 
or bodies of college students and school pupils, or as formal 



324 LEADERS OF MEU. 

orator on state occasions, or as after-dinner speaker, Dr. Hale 
has always been popular — not because of his graces of oratory 
which his uncle, Edward Everett, had to a superlative degree, 
but because of his wit, his common sense, his fathomless 
stores of reminiscence, his facility in conveying his thoughts 
in speech understood of common men, his optimism, and not 
infrequently his overwhelming eloquence, especially when 
deeply stirred and when expounding Americanism. His voice 
and figure are like no other man's, — the voice being deep and 
muffled, the body angular and massive, the countenance 
benign, yet rugged. 

As an antiquarian, versed in the beginnings of history on 
the American continent, in the settlement and development 
of Boston and New England, Dr. Hale has had a peculiarly 
useful career as investigator and popularizer of historical 
information. In this work his large native endowment of 
imagination has served him well, enabling him to put flesh 
on the bones of fact, and thus to make his writings on themes 
usually dry and sapless, so juicy and vital that he enjoys the 
conspicuous honor of being an antiquarian who is read. 

Admirable as has been Dr. Hale's career as a journalist, 
clergyman, philanthropist, author, and educator, it is as 
"professor of America" to his generation, that he has done 
his best and most unique work. By birth, of best New Eng- 
land stock ; having, as a boy, the historic Common as a play- 
ground ; early made aware by conversation in his father's 
home of. the inner meaning of the burning issues of the hour, 
and privileged to hear history and politics discussed by men 
like Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, and other Whig leaders 
who were making history and shaping politics ; in youth an 
ardent conspirator for the triumph of liberty in Kansas, — his 
whole career, whether you consider the influence of heredity 
or environment, or his free choices of friends and pursuits, 
has made him an American sui generis, and has fitted him to 
do for the American public what he conceived his "professor 
of American " as doing in a college — namely, showing men 
that there "is such a reality as American thought, that there 
are certain principles which belong to the American Govern- 
ment, that there are certain feelings which are experienced 
by none but an American." 

It will always be Dr. Hale's chief glory as a patriot that 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 325 

in his many sermons, addresses, editorials, pamphlets, and 
conversations with uninformed Europeans and cynical Amer- 
icans he has uttered again and again such sentiments as 
these : — 

Our government is ourselves united. 

Democracy is a system in which the people rules itself, 
and commands its servants. 

With us, administration is not government. 

When you intrust government to everybody, everybody 
makes his suggestion. The man who knows where the shoe 
pinches makes the last and instructs the workmen. 

Our president is not a king ; our people is not a third 
estate ; our churches are not hierarchies ; our aristocracy is 
not hereditary. 

Feudal institutions die within fifteen minutes after the 
immigrant lands in America. 

In the feudal or European systems, no man may do any- 
thing unless he is permitted. In the democratic or American 
system, he may do anything unless he is forbidden. 

Whenever or wherever Dr. Hale has heard contrary senti- 
ments expressed, he has not failed to rebuke them, or to 
assert the truth as he has seen it. He was in this mood at 
Harvard Commencement in 1899, when he felt constrained to 
remind the Phi Beta Kappa orator of the day, who had 
imputed selfish, grasping motives to the President of the 
United States in dealing with Cuba and Spain's other former 
possessions, that all that the President had done he had done 
at the popular behest, the people and not he, being master, he 
being not " a Julius or Augustus, to rule the nation, but a 
Metullus or Scipio, to be ruled by the nation."' 

For Americans who deny the right or the expediency of 
manhood suffrage, or for men of letters who are snobs and 
mere doctrinaires, Dr. Hale has had but little patience and 
much contempt. To those, like Carlyle, who have scoffed at 
universal manhood suffrage, he has replied : " Universal suf- 
frage has never pretended in America to secure the perfect or 
ideal way. . But it does pretend to gain the peaceful way — 
simply you secure peace. It therefore gives you the chance 
to govern yourselves. No Jack Cade, no barricades, no coup 
d'etat." To dilettante scholars and doctrinaires and pedants, 
Dr. Hale has said : " You are to consort with men and women ; 
to ask while you answer; to learn while you lead." "The 
great mistakes in our government have all been the mistakes 



326 LEADERS OF MEN. 

of theorists. The great successes have been wrought when 
the people took their own affairs in hand and pushed them 
through." 

Dr. Hale's appreciation and understanding of the West is 
illustrated by his important service in providing ways and 
means for the colonization of Kansas in 1852-61 with anti- 
slavery settlers. How he and his associates did this he has 
told us in his history of the New England Emigrant Aid Com- 
pany. Contemplating the resources — material and moral — 
of the Kansas of to-day, Dr. Hale does not regret that he 
labored so arduously for a free Kansas in his early manhood. 

It is an open question whether Dr. Hale of to day is not 
better appreciated, as a typical American, in the West than 
he is in a New England which, with its large Celtic and ever- 
increasing Latin and Slavic population, is far less American 
in opinion, on many matters which, during the last half of the 
seventeenth, all of the eighteenth, and the first half of the 
nineteenth centuries were deemed as essential to American- 
ism, than are the Southern states or the states of the Missis- 
sippi valley and beyond. 

It has been a fundamental tenet of Dr. Hale's conscious 
philosophy of life that in Church and State all should partici- 
pate in discussion and action ; and he never has deemed him- 
self so near his ideal as when he has induced others to think 
and act, and to assume responsibility. Hence, much that may 
have seemed like negligence or unloading of administrative 
responsibility on others, on his part has been a deliberate 
purpose to strengthen the characters of those who needed to 
be made to face problems without him to lean upon. 

If need be, Dr. Hale can deal with the details of adminis- 
tration in a way so masterly as to make his subordinates and 
helpers open their eyes with wonder. But usually he prefers 
to deal with affairs in the large,— his chief function being to 
overcome inertia and get the masses under way in the right 
direction. Men who can overcome the inertia of humanity 
should not be judged hypercritically. 

No one could have lived so long, so busy, and so arduous a 
life as Dr. Hale has lived unless he had inherited a good con- 
stitution, and unless he had cared for it. His habits of life 
have been regular, his ideals of living simple, his sleep fre- 
quent, long, and deep. His characteristic change of pursuit 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 327 

from hour to hour has prevented ennui or ossification, and 
also has aided to maintain vitality, just as it did in Mr. Glad- 
stone's case. Early learning from his mother "to get along 
as well as one could each day," he never has borrowed trouble 
or crossed bridges until he came to them. Good health and 
popular favor have induced serenity of spirit, and thus pro- 
longed life. 

So it comes to pass that Dr. Hale is the youngest-spirited 
old man to-day in Boston — one to whom, to quote a young 
Unitarian minister, the younger men can turn with more cer- 
tainty of awakening delight in and response to new discover- 
ies of truth, new methods of work, new points of view, than 
to any other man of their denomination, however young or 
progressive. Much of Dr. Hale's characteristic openness of 
mind, breeziness of manner, and youth in old age has been 
due to his delight in nature, his open-air life, his zest for 
geology, botany, or what not, so long as it is God's world he 
is learning about. Some of it, too, has been due to his peren- 
nial love for children and youth, a large proportion of his 
books having been written especially for them. Nothing 
comes nearer his heart than the Old South work for educating 
Boston's youth in knowledge of American history. 

Full of humor, craving human contact, eager to get and 
and equally willing to impart knowledge of every kind, loyal 
unto death to those whom he respects and loves, ever seeking 
opportunities for doing good, proud of his inheritance as a 
child of God, strenuous in endeavor to induce other men to be 
equally proud, an American by conviction as well as by birth 
and training, — Dr. Hale stands apart to-day in a niche by 
himself, unapproached, unaccompanied, by any other man of 
letters or affairs in the nation. 

After such a survey of so varied and influential a life as 
Dr. Hale's, the question inevitably arises, What is the secret 
of it all ? 

Belief in God as a Father and man as a brother, would 
seem to answer the question best. Very unlike the Puritan 
in many ways, — for instance, in his theology, and in his love 
of play and of nature, — nevertheless, at bottom Dr. Hale is 
a Puritan, because he is dominated so completely by his cer- 
titude of God's reality, nearness, and good intent, and by his 
exalted conception of his privilege to share jointly with God 



328 LEADERS OF MEN. 

in ushering in the Kingdom. This is the key to the man's life 
on its Godward side : — 

" The plowing of the Lord is deep, 
On ocean or on land ; 

His furrows cross the mountain steep, 
They cross the sea-washed land. 

" Wise men and prophets know not how, 
But work their Master's will ; 
The kings and nations drag the plow, 
His purpose to fulfill." 

As author of this verse, it is apparent that Dr. Hale has a 
vivid conception of God as shaping man's destiny. 

Does he discourse on " Democracy and a Liberal Educa- 
tion," Dr. Hale's last words are that the duty of the educated 
man in a democracy is to live, learn, teach ivith God, for 
man. Does he describe "The Education of a Prince," he in- 
sists that " Work is labor inspirited by the Holy Spirit," and 
that while man's labor on earth may cease, yet as a fellow 
workman with God he shall live forever. Does he eulogize 
the Pilgrim Fathers, he points out how inevitably the feudal 
concepts as well as feudal institutions perished in a company 
of men who knew that they lived together for the greater 
glory of God. He imagines one of these men waking in the 
morning with a divine feeling that " this world is to be a 
better world to-night, because I am in it ; this world is to be 
more God's world because I am in it ; God's kingdom is 
to come to-day because I am in it." In which is a bit 
of unconscious autobiography. No better statement of Dr. 
Hale's philosophy of life can be found. God is ever conceived 
by him as his ally, and he, God's. " God of heaven be with us, 
as thou wert with the fathers," he prays in one of his stirring 
addresses ; and not waiting God's affirmative answer, he adds : 
" God of heaven, we will be with thee, as the fathers were." 

In fact, Dr. Hale's consistent optimism, as he says, is 
rooted in this idea of partnership between God and man. 
" Not till man comes up to some comprehension that God has 
sent him here on an infinite business ; that he and the Author 
of this world are at one in this affair of managing it," says 
Dr. Hale, does a man " with any courage or success take the 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 329 

business of managing his life and the world's life into his own 
hands." 

Confident that he has had God for an ally, and believing 
with equal certitude that all men are his brethren, it has been 
natural for Dr. Hale to put himself at the service of the weak 
and the unfortunate, and those needing comradeship in life's 
struggle, and to be a thoroughgoing democrat in Church, 
State, and School. Solely in the capacity of adviser, he has 
done service for humanity sufficient to win immortality had 
he done nothing else. Studying this portion of his life's re- 
cord, one recalls what Erasmus said of Sir Thomas More : 
" He has been patron saint to all poor devils." 

Kindliness, hatred of injustice, sympathy for the unfor- 
tunate, were Dr. Hale's striking characteristics as a boy, and 
he has never altered. 

Democracy to him has not been a fruit of the Christian 
faith : it is the Christian faith, on the manward side of it. 
Fundamentally a man of heart, Dr. Hale will live longest in 
the memories of his contemporaries and immediate survivors 
as a good, gentle, kindly man, withal virile and aggressive. 
Strength of will, sometimes bordering on obstinacy, he has 
not lacked. Openness, acuteness, and flexibility of mind, 
and brilliancy and fertility of imagination, he has displayed 
lavishly. But Will, Reason, and Imagination have been the 
obedient servants of his emotions, and those emotions benef- 
icent in purpose. He painted his own portrait unerringly 
when he wrote : — 

" Not mine to mount to courts where seraphs sing, 
Or glad archangels soar on outstretched wing ; 
Not mine in unison with celestial choirs 
To sound heaven's trump, or strike the gentler wires ; 
Not mine to stand enrolled at crystal gates, 
Where Michael thunders or where Uriel waits. 

But lesser worlds a Father's kindness know ; 
Be mine some simple service here below, — 
To weep with those who weep, their joys to share, 
Their pain to solace, or their burdens bear ; 
Some widow in her agony to meet ; 
Some exile in his new-found home to greet ; 
To serve some child of thine, and so serve thee, — 
Lo, here am I ! To such a work send me." 



330 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Like Froude he has defined "Right as the sacrifice of self 
to good/' and " Wrong as the sacrifice of self to self." As an 
American and as a Christian, his rule of life has been, " Non 
ministrari, sed ministrare." 

NOT ABOVE ONE'S BUSINESS. 

aLL necessary occupations are honorable. No disgrace 
can reasonably attach to them, except where the men 
or women who follow them are disgraceful. The truest 
dignity will crown the faithful in the humblest employment. 
They are entitled to a creditable passport into the best circles. 

And yet this commonly accepted view of necessary par- 
suits is strangely overlooked in practice. Many people con- 
sider certain useful callings menial and degrading. Where 
they admit the necessity of such labors, they still regard them 
as ignoble. 

Young people often catch this spirit. The store and learned 
professions attract them more than the shop and farm. The 
desire among boys to exchange country for city life arises, in 
a great measure, from this distorted view of manual labor. 
It is not popular to work on a farm or in a shop. It is more 
genteel to handle the yardstick than hoe or shovel. They 
will rank higher as ministers, doctors, or lawyers, than they 
will as mechanics or farmers. 

Such are their false opinions, and they sacrifice everything 
to this delusion. Nine-tenths of all the youth who begin life 
on this line make a deplorable failure. Doctor Johnson well 
said, " He that feels his business is below him, will surely fall 
below it." 

We risk nothing in saying that successful men, in all occu- 
pations, are the men who never feel above their business. 
Whatever their employment is, they consider that their occu- 
pation challenges respect. Illustrations of this statement 
abound in the business world. 

The Boston millionaire and philanthropist, Amos Law- 
rence, employed a clerk, in his early business life, who was 
quite conceited. One day Mr. Lawrence asked him to take a 
package for a lady customer to her residence ; but he declined, 
on the ground that the act would compromise his dignity. 
His employer rebuked him in the most cutting way, by taking 
the bundle himself to the lady's home. 



NOT ABOVE ONE'S BUSINESS. 333 

It is doubtful, however, if a young man so ignorant of 
what true manhood is, can be profited by either rebuke or 
counsel. Conveying the package did not compromise the dig- 
nity of Mr. Lawrence, but magnified it essentially. It showed 
that there was nothing of the fop or dude about him, charac- 
ters that are justly despised by the thoughtful everywhere. 

One day Mr. Lawrence was riding along Tremont street, 
where he overtook an engine company responding to an alarm 
of fire. It was before the day of steam fire engines, and 
before horses were kept and trained to draw engines ; and the 
men were tugging away with all their might to reach the con- 
flagration as quickly as possible. Stopping his horse, he said 
to the firemen : — 

" I would get out and assist you if I were able ; but if you 
will fasten your engine to my carriage, I can help you along 
in that way." 

The great merchant did not feel above hauling an engine 
to a fire ; and he was all the more repected because he did not. 

When the celebrated Samuel Drew was becoming famous 
as an author, though still in poverty, he was carrying in his 
winter's coal without the least idea that it was beneath his 
position. A neighbor said to him : — 

" Drew, that work compromises your dignity as an author." 

Drew's reply is worthy of a place in the memory of every 
aspirant for real honors : — 

"The man who is ashamed to carry in his own coal, 
deserves to sit all winter by an empty grate." 

It was this spirit that enabled him to achieve remarkable 
success. 

Peter the Great laid aside the robes of royalty, and entered 
the East India dockyard at Amsterdam, in disguise, to learn 
the art of shipbuilding. He took his place among the work- 
men, and became, in all respects, one of them ; even wearing 
the same kind of dress, eating the same sort of food, and 
inhabiting equally humble lodgings. He possessed a strong 
desire to benefit his own countrymen by making them more 
familiar with the shipbuilding business, and he believed that 
the best way of accomplishing his purpose was to learn the art 
himself. It never occurred to him that royalty would be com- 
promised by the occupation of a ship carpenter, nor did he 
care. He did not feel above doing anything that would prove 



334 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



a lasting good to his country. He deserved to be called " Peter 
the Great." 

Washington was a man of this class. When his army was 
in winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, and were 
straitened for provisions, he directed a hungry soldier to go 
to his own table for a square meal. " I am on guard and 
can't," replied the soldier. Immediately Washington took his 
place and acted as sentinel, while the half-starved soldier 
regaled himself at his commanders table. At another time, 
when several divisions of the army were engaged in con- 
structing works of defense from Wallabout Bay to Red Hook, 
one of the parties, under the supervision of a subaltern officer, 
had a large timber to raise. While engaged in raising it, 
the officer doing nothing but shout, "Now, boys, right up, 
he-e-a-v-e," etc., a man rode up on horseback. " Why do you 
not help?" he inquired. The officer indignantly replied, "I 
help ! Why, sir, I '11 have you know that I am a corporal ! " 
The gentleman sprang from his horse, laid hold of the timber 
with the men, and very soon it was in the required place. 
Then turning to the corporal, he said: "Mr. Corporal, my 
name is George Washington. As soon as you have completed 
this work, meet me at your commander's quarters." There 
was no room in the army for a man who found so much dig- 
nity in a corporal as to make him feel above lifting a timber. 
He was dismissed. 

A pompous young merchant of Philadelphia purchased his 
dinner at the market one day, and gave a shilling to a seedy- 
looking man standing by to carry it to his house. He was 
somewhat mortified, however, to learn afterward that it was 
the celebrated millionaire Girard, who played the role of a 
servant for him. Girard meant to show the young sprout 
what a fool he was, and cure him of his folly, if possible. 

In striking contrast with the last incident, a young man 
purchased a bag of coffee of Girard, who was always careful 
about whom he trusted. The buyer wheeled the bag to his 
place of business, and when he came for more Girard offered 
to trust him to any amount. The offer was accepted ; the two 
men became firm friends, and the young trader amassed a 
fortune in time. 

Benjamin Franklin wheeled his paper from the warehouse 
to his printing office, when he set up business in Philadelphia ; 



NOT ABOVE ONE'S BUSINESS. 335 

Daniel Safford, one of the wealthy, noble, honored business 
men of Boston, carried home on his back the iron which he 
bought when he commenced the blacksmith's business in that 
city ; a New York millionaire earned his first dollar as a hod 
carrier in the city of Troy, and he never became so proud as 
to despise a hod. 

In our day, many schools and seminaries of learning intro- 
duce industrial occupation, at least for exercise. We think 
that the first institution to adopt this method was Mount 
Holyoke Female Seminary. Its founder, Mary Lyon, aimed 
to acccomplish three things by requiring the domestic work 
of the institution to be done by the students ; namely, health, 
learning how to do the work, and cultivating just views of the 
dignity of labor. There is no doubt that this arrangement has 
accomplished much to make all necessary labor honorable, and 
to eradicate that narrow-minded disposition to feel above one's 
business. Any culture of the young embracing this noble 
purpose deserves well of the public. 

We do not affirm that all persons who do not feel above 
their business will be' successful, but that this spirit does 
characterize nearly all successful men. Success does not 
appear to wait on the man who is too proud to wait on 
himself. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

LEWIS WALLACE. 



A CONFESSION HIS DISTINGUISHED CAREER — ANCESTRY INCIDENT 

IN CAREER OF HIS FATHER - — EARLY PRANKS AMBITIONS PAINTING 

UNDER LIMITATIONS HIS FIRST LITERARY WORK READS LAW IN THE 

MEXICAN WAR LAWYER MILITARY CAREER RENEWED CIVIL WAR 

LITERARY CAREER METHODS OF WORK. HOW TO USE YOURSELF. 



I cannot say I was a model boy. As a matter of fact, as 
I grew up and my love of adventure and of mischief asserted 
itself, I became a terror to the community, 
and my activity did not cease with the day- 
light. 

Very fortunate for me I was a passionate 
reader, and my father had a good library, 
which I read with the eagerness of an om- 
niverous boy, though, of course, I had my 
favorites, of which a prime one was "Plu- 
tarch's Lives/' When I went away, which I 
often did for two or three weeks at a time, 
with a dog and gun, on excursions, during 




which I lived with the farmers, who all knew me, a volume 
of " Plutarch" was apt to be my other companion. 

This course of life was inconsistent with a regular educa- 
tion. At ten, however, I made a scholastic experiment, but it 
was not successful. My elder brother was already entered at 
Wabash College, and it occurred to me that it would be a 
good thing to join him. So I joined him by running away ; 
but the studies naturally demanded both more maturity of 
mind and previous preparation than an idle boy of ten could 
possess, and at the end of three months, I terminated my 
academic career by running away again and resuming my 
nomadic life. 

Of course this could not last forever, loath as I might be 
to have it come to an end. When I was sixteen, my father 
called a halt and a conference. He showed me the twelve 
years' school bills that he had paid for me, while I had not 



LEWIS WALLACE. 337 

had a year's schooling in all, and said that he had done his 
duty in providing for me these advantages, by which I had 
not profited, and that now it was time to make provision for 
myself. This was the beginning of whatever success I may 
have achieved. •% /"♦ /7 

HERE is no American career that is more remarkable 
and interesting than that of Gen. Lew. Wallace. To 
have served in the Mexican war; to have been one of 
the most distinguished generals of the Civil War, with 
whose military services those of few indeed of the survivors 
of the war can be put in competition ; to have been intrusted 
with an important diplomatic mission, and to have taken it 
so much more seriously than the usual American amateur in 
diplomacy as to have won not merely the approbation of his 
own government, but the special and complete confidence 
of the sovereign to whom he was accredited ; and finally to 
have become one of the most distinguished authors of his 
time, is to round out a career positively unique in American 
history, if not in any history. 

General Wallace was born in Brookville, Franklin County, 
Indiana, April 10, 1827, of a family that was originally settled 
in Virginia. At the time of the Revolution it comprised four 
brothers, of whom one died in the hulks, — the British prison 
ships of New York harbor, — two were killed in battle, and the 
fourth, his great-grandfather, settled after the war in Penn- 
sylvania. His grandfather went to Cincinnati shortly after it 
had been founded and established there the first newspaper of 
the place, the Liberty Hall Gazette, which afterwards became 
the Cincinnati Gazette and is now the Commercial Gazette. 
His father had a boyish inclination for the military profes- 
sion, and in order to gratify it, his grandfather made ap- 
plication for an appointment to West Point, and invoked for 
it the powerful influence of Gen. William Henry Harrison. 
General Harrison had made a like application, as it turned 
out, on behalf of his own son for the same district, but hear- 
ing that there was another worthy aspirant, he withdrew his 
own application, leaving the field clear for young Wallace. 
That was an obligation which, as you may suppose, neither 
the father nor his descendants were likely to forget. When 



338 LEADERS OF MEN. 

General Harrison's grandson Benjamin established himself 
two generations afterwards as a lawyer in Indianapolis, the 
result of it was a warm friendship between the Wallaces and 
the Harrisons. 

The elder Wallace in this way got his appointment as a 
cadet, went through his time with credit, and after his gradua- 
tion served for some years at the academy as assistant pro- 
fessor of mathematics. The drawbacks of the army as a 
profession in time of peace had impressed themselves upon 
him, and he removed to Brookville, and there read law in the 
office of his father-in-law that was to be. After his admission 
to the bar he combined law and politics, was twice elected 
lieutenant-governor of Indiana, and once governor, and his 
election took the family to Indianapolis, and later to Craw- 
fordsville. * 

It was through David Wallace, governor of Indiana in 
1837, and member of Congress in 1840, that one of the most 
beneficent discoveries that has blessed mankind was to 
take definite shape and direction. For years that idea had 
been struggling through the mists and darkness of human 
thought for recognition. Its promoter had pleaded in vain 
with Congress for an appropriation to give his discovery 
standing room. For months he had appeared before the con- 
gressional committee on commerce, begging for an appropria- 
tion with which to make an experiment. He had then gone to 
Europe with the hope of securing substantial aid, but utterly 
failed. For three years that discovery, whose monetary value 
now amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars, went beg- 
ging through the halls of Congress. Time after time it was 
presented and ignored. Politicians were not foolhardy enough 
to peril their political fortunes for the wild dreams of an 
enthusiast. The early months of 1843 were rapidly taking 
wing, and the sessional goal would soon be reached, when the 
committee vote was finally taken. The roll call went down 
the list, every Whig voting for the appropriation and every 
Democrat against it ; and when the bottom of the alphabet 
was nearly reached, the vote was a tie, with one more vote to 
be cast. And when David Wallace decided the tie by casting 
his vote for the appropriation of 830,000 which enabled Pro- 
fessor Morse to make successful experiment of his electro- 
magnetic telegraph from Baltimore to Washington, then was 



LEWIS WALLACE. 339 

the historic moment of the century ; then the scene for the 
painter. Governor Wallace decided the fate of the appropria- 
tion, and his own fate also, for he was defeated that fall for 
re-election because of his action on this measure. The reward 
of the martyr is the appreciation of the future. 

On the third of December, 1833, twelve young men re- 
sponded to the roll call of Professor Mills in an unpretentious 
building at Crawfordsville, Ind. It was the humble beginning 
of Wabash College. The next September a young man who 
was to become in after years an able member of the Indiana 
bar, enrolled himself as a student. He was a son of Governor 
Wallace. His brother Lew, a lad of ten years, was left at 
home in Covington, but his heart was with his brother in 
the new college home thirty miles away. It is entertain- 
ingly related by the ex-president of the college that the 
boy's uncle, Judge Taft, was holding court in Covington at 
that time, and that as he was proceeding on his circuit to 
Crawfordsville, he was suddenly hailed by the younger 
brother from the woods and informed that he was going to 
join his brother at the college. "He, moreover, invited the 
judge to wheel his horse up to the fence that he might mount 
behind him. Without notifying the family at home, he in 
this mode joined his brother. His ' mount ' that morning in 
the outskirts of Covington, leading to Mexico, Donelson, 
Shiloh, Constantinople, and the palaces of ' Ben Hur ' and the 
' Prince of India,' needs no description. It was the beginning 
of a series of distinguished successes. ,, 

Young Wallace wanted, among other things, to be a 
soldier, a writer, and a painter, and made essays in these 
two latter directions before he was sixteen. Truth is, he had 
always been sketching as well as scribbling, and perhaps had 
a talent for art, though it was not a talent easy to cultivate in 
that time and place. After he had done what he could, with- 
out instruction, in black and white, he aspired to color, and 
confided his aspirations to the one professional artist that In- 
dianapolis then possessed. His name was Cox. This artist 
gave the young aspirant some pigments, but they were dry, 
and he must have oils. Luckily there was a person ill at his 
father's house, and the doctor had prescribed castor oil. He 
forthwith confiscated the medicine in the interest of art and 
pursued his work. It was a portrait of Black Hawk, the In- 



340 LEADERS OF MEN. 

dian chief — a hideous old ruffian, with very strongly marked 
features and only one eye, so that it was difficult to make a 
portrait of him that would not be recognizable. When the 
abstraction of the oil was discovered and traced to the 
embryo painter, in answer to his mother s inquiry what he 
had done with it, the work of art in which the medicine was 
incorporated was produced, and she, at least, thought it a suc- 
cess. 

At this time Lew Wallace had also completed a literary 
work. It was a novel — " The Man at Arms ; a Tale of the 
Tenth Century." The manuscript of this tale was left at 
home when he went to the Mexican war, and has not since 
been discovered. 

As there was no immediate career in Indiana, nor even an 
immediate livelihood for an artist or a novelist, and as his 
necessities were immediate, the future author of " Ben Hur " 
cast about for a humbler and more gainful trade. He had 
acquired a good handwriting and so applied for work as a 
copyist to the clerk of the county. With the first eleven dol- 
lars so acquired, he bought a gun. 

Meanwhile, he had become somewhat sobered with time, 
and though he had not relinquished the military ambition, 
which there did not seem any way of gratifying, he read law 
with his father, and was in a way to establish himself as a 
practitioner when the news came of the outbreak of the 
Mexican war. He at once set to work to organize a company, 
succeeded within a short time, and the captaincy was offered 
to him in spite of his boyishness and inexperience. He de- 
clined it, however, and accepted the second lieutenancy. The 
company was ordered to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and 
on account of the indifference of his superior officers, its dis- 
cipline devolved entirely upon the second lieutenant. He 
maintained it, and became unpopular, accordingly, as every 
disciplinarian must become at first with volunteers. Perhaps 
the most important result of his experience in Mexico, was 
that it gave him the notion of writing "The Fair God," or 
rather of giving it form, for he had begun the story at home 
when he was seventeen. 

After the Mexican war, Lieutenant Wallace resumed the 
practice of law, and honorably represented his county in the 
state Senate ; but his chief amusement was a military com- 






LEWIS WALLACE. 341 

pany which he organized and commanded. This organiza- 
tion was so thoroughly perfected in military tactics that its 
members readily obtained commissions when the call for 
troops came in 1861. He had been honored by Governor Mor- 
ton with the appointment of adjutant-general of the state, 
which he resigned to become the leading and organizing 
spirit of the famous Eleventh Indiana regiment, a regiment 
which its commanding officer so thoroughly imbued with his 
intense individuality that it was known to the close of the 
war as the Wallace regiment. He had successfully led the 
center at the storming of Fort Donelson ; had commanded 
the third division of the army of the Tennessee at Shiloh ; 
had held Jubal Early at bay at Monocacy, July 9, 1864, and 
saved Washington from inevitable capture. He had been 
vice-president of the military tribunal which tried the Lin- 
coln conspirators ; president of the commission which tried 
Henry Wirtz ; and his name was in glorious association with 
Reynolds and Canby. 

After the duties of the military tribunals were over, Gen- 
eral Wallace returned to Crawfordsville. His passionate love 
of military matters was his inspiration during the years of 
the war : " everything went but that ; " he thought of noth- 
ing else, did nothing else, cared for nothing else. He was 
satisfied with politics to have served four years as state sena- 
tor. A politician, he thought, amounted to this and no more, 
"one vote on the roll call."' Accordingly, he resumed the 
practice of law. He loved the profession, but it had a purely 
commercial value — bread and butter. It worried him and he 
was not at his best. Other chords were yet to be touched. 

His busiest hours \\'cre associated with his father's library. 
It was there the fire commenced to burn which is burning 
brightly yet. His father never regarded with favor his artis- 
tic tastes, art, painting, and sculpture. Literature may not 
have been on the "prohibited list.'' Before going to Mexico 
he had broken ground on " The Fair God," with its fascinat- 
ing pictures of Cortez and his conquest. About a third of it 
was written when he went to Mexico. Almost thirty years 
had elapsed from the time of its commencement to its publi- 
cation in 1874. Through Whitelaw Reid he obtained a letter 
of introduction to James R. Osgood & Co., of Boston. The 
manuscript was submitted and accepted. He was now on the 



342 LEADERS OF MEN. 

royal highway — the prophecy of his own " Ben Hur " and his 
victory in the lists at Antioch. "The race was on, and the 
soul of the racer was in it." Its success was immediate. Har- 
vard college purchased several copies for its library, but a 
hundred would not have supplied the demand. 

There are certain interesting events which are dividing 
lines in people's lives. About 1850 a certain lady was merely 
known as the wife of Professor Calvin E. Stowe of Walnut 
Hills, Ohio. The following year, a serial story — " Uncle 
Tom's Cabin" — appeared in a Washington paper and she 
was afterwards known as Harriet Beecher Stowe. "Ben 
Hur " was a pivotal point in General Wallace's life — an event 
which invests his life with the charm of a marked individu- 
ality. It has been " Ben Hur" since 1880. 

"Authentic" accounts of the inspiration of "Ben Hur" 
have appeared in the papers galore. One was that it came 
from a conversation with Ingersoll on a railroad train, and 
that General Wallace is said to have written " Ben Hur" as 
his reply to Ingersoll. His own account of it is better — that 
it came from that verse in Matthew, " Now, when Jesus was 
born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod, the 
king, behold there came wise men from the East to worship 
Him." Its imagery greatly excited his imagination. He 
commenced the book in 1875, with the intention of making it 
a serial for a magazine. From books of travel and travelers 
and a large German chart or map, he thoroughly posted him- 
self of the physical features of the country ; its hills, its 
water, its vegetation. His hardest work, he said, was to find 
a hero. Christ must always be coming, but not till the last. 
His own belief in Christ's divinity was strengthened on every 
page, though he commenced the book with no particular 
religious impression. The last chapter was written in a vile 
old chamber in a fort at Santa Fe — " a gloomy den " — while 
he was territorial governor. The book was completed in 1880 
and as a whole was written more carefully than "The Fair 
God." Its first reception by the public was not nattering. 
No other book has so familiarized the people with the Holy 
Land. It is remarkable that he did not visit Palestine till 
several years after its publication. While minister to Con- 
stantinople he visited the Holy Land, as the guest of the sul- 
tan, which gave him access everywhere. He could discover 



LEWIS WALLACE. 343 

no mistakes. There was even the great white stone men- 
tioned in the healing of the lepers; and also the stone' on 
Mount Olivet, where Ben Hur had rested. Everything was 
confirmed to a marked degree. The part of " Ben Hur" 
which most interested the author was the interview between 
Ben Hur and the two friends to whom he described his 
experience in following Christ. That confirmed his belief in 
the divinity of Christ. Most of the book was written at night, 
or under the famous beech tree in the grove, "where he 
whipped obstinate ideas into comely expression." But Ben Hur 
was always with him. Tirza's little song, "Wait Not," was 
written on a belated train from Indianapolis to Crawfords- 
ville. In thirteen years six hundred thousand copies had 
been sold. In his library is a case for "Ben Hur" volumes 
alone, from different publishing houses all over the world. 
But the one which specially delighted him was the publica- 
tion of " Ben Hur" by a Louisville house in raised characters 
for the blind. 

About a year after the publication of " Ben Hur " General 
Wallace was appointed minister to Turkey by President Gar- 
field. As he was taking leave of the president at the White 
House, Garfield alluded to the pleasure the book had given 
him, and asked, even insisted, that he write another, whose 
scenes and incidents were to be associated with Constanti- 
nople. He said that the duties of the office would give ample 
time for such a work. The world already knows the pleasure 
it has received from the suggestion which is more likely to 
have been original with General Wallace than President Gar- 
field. After spending over four years in studying the people, 
the country, and its history, he returned richly laden with 
materials for his new work. Naturally Mrs. Wallace was his 
only confidante of the plot and incidents of the story. She is 
one of America's most gifted women. It is said that she was 
the only person who saw the manuscript, and the only one the 
author consulted. Six years were spent in actual work. Dur- 
ing that time he studied astrology at the congressional library 
in Washington, and consulted and studied more than fifty 
volumes before taking up his pen. The reader wonders at the 
painstaking researches of the author. He says it is authentic 
in almost every particular but the hero. No more interesting 
historical novel has been written, and no more fascinating 



344 LEADERS OF MEN. 

epoch described than the period of the rupture between the 
Greek and Latin churches. It made its appearance in 1893, 
and in four months one hundred thousand copies had been 
sold. 

The methods, style, and reading of a prominent man of 
letters must always be subjects of absorbing interest. Gen- 
eral Wallace worked by schedule time at his literary work ; 
nine in the morning till noon ; half past one to four in the 
afternoon ; then a walk or a ride on his horse. If the for- 
mer, it was generally up Wabash avenue, which is often 
pleasantly alluded to as the "general's walk" to this day. 
He finished as he proceeded with his plot. The first thing 
every morning the work of the preceding day was care- 
fully gone over, and thoroughly revised, and accepted if it 
suited him. He used the knife unsparingly, and if neces- 
sary used all the time allotted to that day in revision and cor- 
rection. Then the new work began. He would average about 
five hundred words a day, but sometimes that would be cut 
' to fifty or one hundred if the scrutiny of the work of the day 
before was unusually severe. The work was always blocked 
out in advance, and his general plan was to be working up to 
some certain fixed point ahead of him, like the climax of a 
chapter. But it was his unalterable custom never to make 
any advance, unless all was finished up to that particular 
place. If he was not satisfied with what had been done, to 
use his own words, " I stay there until I whip it and make it 
suit me." 

His style is very natural and easy, as those readers who 
have heard him talk — speak from the platform — can testify. 
One habit is very unique and original — the frequent placing 
of the verb before the noun as in the preface of " The Boy- 
hood of Christ." The ink is in his blood, and he mixes and 
applies his colors with the taste of the artist that he is. The 
finest tribute any artist can receive is the spontaneous tribute 
of his works, and no one ever received that in more ample 
measure than the author of " Ben Hur." 

He has always been a great reader on all subjects, and there 
has been method in it all ; he looks to general reading and 
especially to the works of good authors, for ready command 
of language as well as style and ease. Aside from the read- 
ing for technical preparation of his books, his favorite authors 



LEWIS WALLACE. 345 

have been, in prose and fiction, Kingsley, Bulwer, Scott, 
Cervantes, Macaulay, Irving, Goldsmith, and occasionally 
Thackeray ; in poetry, Homer, Shakespeare, Dante, Milton, 
Tennyson, and Longfellow. Within these lines, about all his 
standard reading has been done. 

As to the characters he has created, he does not know that 
he prefers one to another, but he says, "There are certain 
characters that get hold of you. You see them. They have 
individuality. You can see the color of their hair, and their 
eyes, and you hear their voices. In 'Ben Hur,' Simonides, 
Belthazer, and Ben Hur were great favorites," 

Twenty-five years ago the town of Crawfordsville, so dear 
to those who lived there, was even then a Mecca for literary 
pilgrims. It was the home of the Wallaces, Maurice Thomp- 
son and Miss Krout, all noted in the literary field. Of these 
Mrs. Wallace had already attained fame in frequent contribu- 
tions to the New York Tribune and Harper's Magazine. Her 
later works have been "The Land of the Pueblos," "The 
Storied Sea," and "The Repose in Egypt." She is a lady of 
rare literary judgment, an expert in proof reading, and in 
perfect harmony of literary taste with her husband. He is 
his own severest critic. When he has cast and recast his 
manuscript many times, it is then turned over to Mrs. Wal- 
lace. The "Patter of Little Feet," which was published in 
Harper's Magazine in 1889, made her famous at once, and 
every little while the papers have urgent call for another look 
at it. It is one of the gems of American literature : — 

' * Up with the sun at morning, 

Away to the garden he hies 
To see if the sleepy blossoms 

Have begun to open their eyes ; 
Running a race with the wind, 

His step as light and fleet, 
Under my window I hear 

The patter of little feet. 

«« Anon to the brook he wanders, 
In swift and noiseless flight, 
Splashing the sparkling ripples 
Like a fairy water sprite ; 



346 LEADERS OF MEN. 

No sand under fabled river 

Has gleams like his golden hair, 
No pearly seashell is fairer 

Than his slender ankles bare ; 
Nor the rosiest stem of coral 

That blushes in ocean's bed, 
Is sweet as the flush that follows 

Our darling's airy tread. 

44 From a broad window my neighbor 

Looks down on our little cot 
And watches the ' poor man's blessing ' 5 

I cannot envy his lot. 
He has pictures ; books, and music, 

Bright fountains and noble trees ; 
Flowers that bloom in vases 

And birds from beyond the seas ; 
But never does childish laughter 

His homeward footstep greet — 
His stately halls ne'er echo 

To the tread of innocent feet. 

44 This child is our < speaking picture,' 

A birdling that chatters and sings ; 
Sometimes a sleeping cherub 

(Our other one has wings), 
His heart is a charmed casket 

Full of all that's cunning and sweet, 
And no harp strings hold such music 

As follows his twinkling feet. 

44 When the glory of sunset opens 

The highway by angels trod, 
And seems to unbar the city 

Whose builder and maker is God ; 
Close by the crystal portal, 

I see by the gates of pearl 
The eyes of the other angel — 

A twin-born little girl. 

44 And I ask to be taught and directed 
To guide his footsteps aright, 
So that I be accounted worthy 
To walk in sandals of light ; 



LEWIS WALLACE. 347 

And hear amid songs of welcome 

From messengers trusty and fleet, 
On the starry floor of heaven 

The patter of little feet." 

There, in the large grove on East Wabash avenue, is the 
home of General Wallace, a large, two-story frame house, 
and destined to be famous as the place where "Ben Hur"' 
and "The Prince of India" were written. A little farther 
away in the grove is the library, which is one the most 
unique and complete buildings of its kind ever attempted. 
It is on the border of an artificial lake, fed by a self-flowing 
artesian well. A few feet from the front porch of the house 
is the large beech tree, under which many chapters of 
"Ben Hur" were written. "Do not imagine," says General 
Wallace, " I wrote every" day. Although it was my great 
desire to do so, I was a breadwinner and had duties to 
attend to. There were days when Ben Hur would call to me, 
and with persistence ; on other days some other character 
would do the same, and at such times I was powerless to do 
aught but obey, and was forced to fly from court and client. 
Many of the scenes of the books were blocked out in my 
journeys to and from my office. The greater part of the work 
was done at home beneath an old beech tree near my house. 
I have a peculiar affection for that tree. How often, when its 
thick branches have protected me with their cooling shadows, 
has it been the only witness to my mental struggles ; and 
how often, too, has it maintained a great dignity when it 
might have laughed at my discomfiture. The soft twittering 
of birds, the hum of bees, the lowing of the kine, all made 
the spot dear to me." 

It is not always true that men do not gain by addition late 
in life. General Wallace's whole career is proof that we do 
not always lose something that is good as we grow older. He 
was sixty-six years old when he handed to his publishers the 
finished manuscript of " The Prince of India," and it is quite 
likely that he will again send a flash of glory up the Western 
sky to catch the gaze of an admiring world. 

He has never paraded before the country as a man with a 
grievance. He kept himself above the scheming plans and 
jealousies which were often the sole capital of many military 



348 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



aspirants in the early days of the war. None could impeach 
the purity of his motives, and it was, indeed, an honor that 
might excite the envy of anyone, that it was President Lin- 
coln's own wish that he be appointed commander of the 
Eighth corps, and in charge of the middle department. When 
Bragg's detachment threatened Cincinnati he threw aside his 
rank to accept service in its defense, and the same is true of 
John Morgan's invasion of Indiana. He had in him the stuff 
of a patriot. 

In his seventy-fifth year he is one of the few surviving 
prominent characters of the war period, — always of striking 
military bearing, — always a picturesque figure on the streets. 
In the fading twilight these old heroes of the war are muster- 
ing for their last long march. Their old commander and 
many of their comrades are already in line, and under ban- 
ners which never yet waved to mortal eye ; under the order 
of a new chief marshal, whose trumpet has never sounded 
retreat, they are moving from our loving sight to the eternal 
camping ground beyond. All honor to the defenders of the 
Union ! Loving benisons on the memory of these translated 
children of the Republic! 

HOW TO USE YOURSELF. 

)NOW thyself " was the wise counsel of an ancient 
philosopher. It is absolutely necessary to know your- 
self in order to know how to use yourself. You can- 
not use what you do not have. You cannot use five talents if 
you do not have but one or two ; you cannot be wise if you 
are otherwise ; you cannot exercise sound judgment if you do 
not possess it ; you cannot make a successful merchant or 
minister if you have no qualifications for those positions. 
Make the most of such material as you have, and the best 
results will follow. Hence, self-acquaintance is indispensable 
to the proper use of yourself. 

Some young people may lack certain qualities which they 
can cultivate, but they must know what they are. Observa- 
tion may be deficient ; love of work languish ; patience and 
perseverance may be wanting, and other qualities may be 
weak and inefficient ; but they can be improved, when a 
person knows what it is that he must improve. He must 
know himself in order to undertake intelligently self-improve- 



HOW TO USE YOURSELF. 351 

merit. Whether to use check or spur, and when or where, is 
indispensable knowledge. 

When Hugh Miller was seventeen years of age, his two 
uncles, who had been his guardians since his father died, sug- 
gested to him that he was old enough to choose a life pursuit. 
They wanted him to be educated for one of the learned pro- 
fessions ; they were not particular which. But he protested 
against their plan, claiming that he had no fitness for any of 
them ; that he would make a failure as physician, lawyer, or 
clergyman. His views on the subject were so emphatic that 
his uncles acquiesced in his choosing an occupation, but they 
were somewhat confounded when he consented to become 
the apprentice of a stone mason. But the boy knew himself 
better than his uncles knew him. They had regarded his fond- 
ness of nature, and his frequent excursions over the country 
in search of minerals, rather as boyish freaks instead of indi- 
cations of a " natural bent." They had, indeed, thought that 
he possessed more than ordinary talents ; and, for this reason, 
no doubt, desired that he might choose one of the learned 
professions. 

Young Miller knew that he loved nature with a passionate 
love ; that he enjoyed himself more when traversing the hills 
and valleys to increase his knowledge of her treasures than 
he did anywhere else. He delighted in caves and quarries. 
With hammer in hand, he found more real enjoyment among 
crags and rocks than the average bright boy finds in astron- 
omy or Latin grammar. He knew that a quarry would be 
more than a college to him, and that he could sit at the feet 
of nature to learn with more faith than he could sit at the feet 
of a professor, so that it was not blind reasoning that made 
him a stone mason ; it was the call of a soul for knowledge 
in that line. He might never have been known beyond his 
own immediate circle had he become a lawyer, doctor, or rec- 
tor. He certainly would not have been favorably situated to 
develop into a great geologist. He devoted himself to that 
pursuit which appealed to the strongest and best elements of 
his being. He was fitted for it. He could make the most of 
it possible, and it could make the most of him possible. He 
became the world-renowned geologist because he selected a 
pursuit for which nature had fitted him. 

One of the best artists of New England was educated for 



352 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the medical profession against his own taste and judgment. 
From a child he manifested a strong love for art, and was 
drawing and painting every chance he could get. His father 
witnessed his precocity in this direction, and was annoyed 
rather than pleased by it. He was determined to make a 
doctor of him, so that tact and talent in another line was not 
acceptable. 

" Artists can hardly keep soul and body together," he said ; 
"and my son must pursue a more lucrative and substantial 
business." So he was educated for a physician. 

" I have no taste for the profession, and no talent for it, ' 
said the son ; " but I yield to my father's strong desire. I 
know that I possess both taste and talent for art, and could 
distinguish myself therein, but my father orders otherwise." 

He entered the medical profession ; but his heart was not 
in it. He felt continually that he was out of his place, — that 
he was engaged in a pursuit for which nature did not intend 
him. He was dissatisfied and unhappy, of course. His pro- 
fession was a burden to carry ; and the time came when he 
resolved to lay it down and take up art, which was so con- 
genial to his nature. He knew himself better than his father 
did, as the sequel proved. He was not a born physician, but 
he was a born artist ; and, knowing that fact, he knew how 
to use himself to the best advantage. 

John Bright was a remarkable illustration of our theme. 
He was a good scholar, fond of books, and yet he had an eye 
to business. Having completed his education, he entered 
upon a business career with his father. At the same time, he 
gratified his love of learning by improving leisure time in 
reading. He was passionately fond of poetry, and it com- 
manded a good share of his spare moments. In school, he 
belonged to a debating society, in which he developed finely 
as a speaker. He did not undervalue these sources of intel- 
lectual and popular strength after he became a business man. 
He became an expert in the study of poetry and English liter- 
ature ; he spoke in public, also, and became a famous orator. 
In this way he advanced constantly, and became a leader in 
the British Parliament. A correct knowledge of himself led 
him to self-improvement on lines that assured his renown as 
a statesman. 

The builder of the great auditorium in Chicago that will 



HOW TO USE YOURSELF. 353 

hold twelve thousand people, received the contract when he 
was only twenty-six years of age. With a fractional part of 
the experience of many architects who applied for the con- 
tract, he became the successful applicant. He must have 
known just how to use himself, or he could not have been the 
fortunate one. Such a young man must possess an amount 
of self-reliance and self-knowledge as well as tact and push, 
that is seldom found in one soul. 

The Eiffel tower was a leading object of interest during 
the World's Exposition in Paris, in 1889. It is more than a 
thousand feet high, — a gem of art that could not have been 
created in a former age. The knowledge, faith, tact, and 
indomitable perseverance necessary to produce it was not 
found in any one or two men, until Eiffel, the builder, and 
Lanvestre, the architect, came upon the stage. The latter 
was but forty-two years of age when he designed the tower, 
but his signal application, push, and ability had placed him 
among the first architects of France, at that early age. Eiffel, 
the builder, possesses similar qualities, though having enjoyed 
higher culture. The two men were fitted to accomplish such 
a work together. Indeed, two such men anywhere are bound 
to succeed with any enterprise. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

RUSSELL HERMAN CONWELL. 



HOW TO SUCCEED HIS BOYHOOD EARLY ORATORICAL EFFORTS 

STRUGGLES FOR AN EDUCATION THE CALL TO ARMS YALE COLLEGE 

JOURNALISTIC EXPERIENCES ADMITTED TO THE BAR ENTERS THE MIN- 
ISTRY HIS FIRST CHURCH WORK IN PHILADELPHIA THE TEMPLE 

COLLEGE CHARACTERISTICS. MINDING LITTLE THINGS. 

Wise men have told us that the way for men to prosper, in 
all that is worthy of human effort, is in the full exercise of 
their own talents to the best advantage. 
Underlying this is indeed a large truth. 
Unless a man avails himself of the oppor- 
tunities which come to him in life, he may 
expect no success. With the vigor of a per- 
sonal will a man may make the walls of 
adamant to fall down before him, and ac- 
complish what seems to us, as we look at it 
from a distance, to be an actual miracle. 

Every man is largely the architect of his 
own fortune — not the creature of circum- 
stances — for he may make the circumstances if he devote 
himself to the ways that all prosperous business men under- 
stand, which are the methods that usually succeed. But the 
methods that succeed are always those that work in accord- 
ance with the great plan of God in the universe. He who 
wishes to be a successful man must use not only his own will, 
not only his own perseverance, not only strict economy, but 
he must avail himself of God's wisdom ; he must work in line 
with God's laws. 

Study the open doors, and your personal fitness for enter- 
ing them — your education, your aptness, your opportunities. 
Don't forget that much of success depends upon doing well 
the little things of life. 




/hitstAttt. 




RUSSELL HERMAN CONWELL. 355 

|£\USSELL H. CONWELL, the pastor of the Baptist Tem- 
J_Y P* e ' Philadelphia, the largest institutional church in 

\s) the world, and the president of the Temple College and 
of the Samaritan Hospital, was born among the Berk- 
shires in Western Massachusetts, February 15, 1843. Nature 
gave him the physique and many of the qualities of the 
mountaineer. Physical endurance of hardships was a neces- 
sity from the beginning. The conditions of life were stern ; 
onl}^ by great exertions and the strictest economy could a bare 
living be gotten from the hillside farm. At three years he 
went steadily to school two miles away. But aside from the 
qualities that the struggle for existence gave him, very early 
he showed marked ability along the lines that have since 
made him famous. 

Some of the old villagers of his native town of South 
Worthington tell a tale of the boy of nine exhibiting a Spirit- 
ualistic seance in the village church. The wave of Spiritual- 
ism that swept over the country fifty years ago took a very 
strong hold on the attention of those people. 

He entered with great interest into the debating society of 
the village. His attempts at oratory were prepared and re- 
hearsed in season and out of season. He himself tells an 
amusing incident of the rehearsal of one of these bursts of 
eloquence as he was driving down the mountain road, taking 
a load of maple sugar to the town of Huntington. The old 
horse listened patiently to the lad's oration until unhappily 
for the orator his oration became so effective that when he 
exclaimed, " Woe ! woe unto you, all ye children of men!" the 
old horse took him at his word and " whoaed " so suddenly as 
to pitch the young orator on his head in the muddy road. A 
broken crown cooled his ardor, but only for a time, for since 
that day he has preached continuously before the largest 
church congregation in America : and as a prince of lectur- 
ers addressed a greater number of people than any other liv- 
ing man. 

His father was an abolitionist, their mountain farm being 
one of the stations on the underground railway to Canada. 
The boy entered very deeply into the political feeling of the 
time and though under age, responded with his whole self to 
the first call to free the slaves. 

Fond of music always, he was the village musician, great 



356 LEADERS OF MEN. 

joy coming to his household when by the greatest sacrifice an 
Estey organ was purchased for him. By teaching in the dis- 
trict schools he worked his way through Wilbraham Academy, 
preparing for Yale. A strong, tall, awkward, overgrown, 
poorly dressed, country boy — he, with his younger brother, 
entered Yale. Here his knowledge of music enabled him to 
support himself. The two boys lived in the simplest fashion, 
and prepared their own food of the plainest, most economical 
kind. The boys, sensitive to their extreme poverty, withdrew 
from the social life of the college. Before the degree was 
won the first call to arms came. The boy saw his duty 
clearly. He returned to his hills in 1862, gathered around him 
from young men and from those many years his senior, a 
military company, which when formed, chose him as its cap- 
tain. An old man, one of the company, told the story to the 
writer a summer or two ago. He told how Mr. Conwell, a 
youth of seventeen, made patriotic speeches until all were 
fired with enthusiasm to go, and to go with him as leader. 
The boy was thought too young to be appointed a captain, but 
captain he must be, some of the company going to the gov- 
ernor and pleading that the lad who had always led them 
might be their leader still. The governor yielded to their 
petition and the boy was made captain. Mr. Conwell in 
one of his lyceum lectures tells the story of the sword which 
was presented to him by the citizens of his native town, and 
which a faithful boy died to save from the enemy. He be- 
came finally a lieutenant colonel, being in the battles of 
Kingston, Goldsboro, Newport, Lone Mountain, Kennesaw 
Mountain, and Franklin. 

He had entered Yale with the intention of graduating at 
law. The war did not turn him aside. All the spare hours, 
in tent or in field, were spent in reading law or in other study. 
Some small volumes of poetry, given him by one of his 
soldiers, remain, dated 1863, which were carried in his knap- 
sack. Mrs. Browning's poems seem incongruous with the 
stern realities of war, but serve to show us how the man was 
keeping steadily before him the end to be attained. A pur- 
pose once formed by him is steadily kept in sight in spite of all 
obstacles or delays. After the war he graduated at the Albany 
University Law School and started a daily paper in Minne- 
apolis, Minn. He soon went wholly into journalism, serving 



RUSSELL HERMAN CON WELL. 357 

under Horace Greeley on the New York Tribune. He was 
sent abroad as traveling correspondent, writing letters for the 
Tribune and the Boston Traveller from Europe and Asia. 
During this journey encircling the world he traveled for a 
time with Bayard Taylor. The friendship thus established led 
him, when the news came years after of the death of Taylor, 
to organize the great memorial meeting in Tremont Temple, 
to which Mr. Longfellow, not being well enough to attend, 
sent, at Mr. Conwell's request, his exquisite memorial poem : — 

" Dead h« lay among his books ! 
The peace of God was in his looks." 

He was admitted to the bar in Minneapolis, where he 
founded the first daily paper in that city, and built up a suc- 
cessful practice, also establishing the Young Men's Christian 
Association of that city. In Yale, like many other students 
before and since, he went through all the throes of infidelity, 
going into the war an avowed atheist, coming out of its stern 
realities a professing Christian. In Saint Paul he united with 
the Baptist church, and began aggressive church work at 
Minneapolis. In connection with the Young Men's Christian 
Association he established a noonday prayer meeting for 
business men, the meetings being held at first in his law office. 

In a long illness owing to the breaking out of army wounds 
he lost all the property he had acquired, and drifted back to 
Boston. Here he opened his law office and identified himself 
with Tremont Temple church. 

In a short time the leader was again at the front. He 
organized the Young Men's Congress and led political cam- 
paigns. His Bible class increased until it enrolled six hun- 
dred members. Through these years Mr. Conwell was also 
on the platform as a temperance lecturer. His famous lec- 
ture, "Acres of Diamonds," was first given in 1871, and that 
single lecture of his list has been given twenty-eight hundred 
times to the profit of benevolent works of over a half million 
of dollars. 

Through years the conviction had been growing upon him 
that he ought to enter the ministry. At last, in 1879, while 
still continuing his practice of law he entered the Newton 
Theological Seminary. Before this time he took the little 
church at Lexington, about to be abandoned, rebuilt it, and 



358 LEADERS OF MEN. 

afterwards left it a strong church. On the completion of his 
course, at forty years of age, he was called to Philadelphia, 
where his great life work began. He first began his labors 
in a small, unfinished church in a quiet, uptown neighbor- 
hood. Less than a hundred people were in actual attend- 
ance. Twenty-seven gathered to give him a call. His strong 
personality, his sympathy in, and understanding of, the 
lives of each one of this company bound them to him at 
once, and made them desire that others should know him. 
His straightforward talks from the pulpit, filled with homely 
illustrations, graced by his inborn oratory, lacking many of 
the accepted traditional forms that people had been trained 
to expect, at first rather startled conservative Philadelphians. 
First led by curiosity, often in a spirit of antagonism, the 
people flocked to listen till, conquered by the strength of the 
preacher, they stayed to help. Very soon the little church, 
that only seated five hundred people, was crowded to its doors, 
not by the idle follower of a sensation, but with strong men 
and women, who were there to stay, to share in the labors of 
the leader they had learned to love. Ever accessible to all, 
ever ready to go to the sick, ever among the poor in those 
early years, before the greater cares came necessitating the 
laying of some of these details upon others, he organized his 
forces into associations of various kinds, all with some definite 
work to do. The value of the social intercourse was fully 
appreciated. Numerous suppers, receptions, socials were 
held ; at each and all the leader had a word for each worker. 
Soon the limits of the small building were reached, then 
what was to be done ? The church had been finished. ' All 
the expense of its furnishing had been paid, but there still 
remained a mortgage upon the building. When Mr. Conwell 
proposed that a larger building must be built men looked 
grave, but so great was the confidence in the leader, so sure 
was he of ultimate success, that he carried all with him. Then 
came the days of sacrifice not unshared by the leader. Last 
year's gown was made to do, the lad walked to his work, the 
poor washerwoman put away the tenth of her income, often 
more. Every honorable and consistent Christian means of 
raising money was resorted to. Soon the necessary amount 
to make the first payment on a lot that was purchasable on 
Broad street was obtained, and the new enterprise was begun. 



RUSSELL HERMAN CON WELL. 359 

Never was there a happier people ; not even when the task was 
completed, was there such joy as in the years of sacrificing 
together. 

Some time before leaving the old building a bright, ambi- 
tious young man, thrown early by the death of his father upon 
his own resources, came to Mr. Conwell and asked him how 
he could obtain a college education and still support the 
mother and some younger brothers dependent upon him. 
This led to the expression of an idea that had long been dor- 
mant in Mr. Conwell's mind, the offering of an opportunity to 
all who would be otherwise deprived of it, of obtaining an 
education by evening study. He told the young man that if 
he would gather together three or four more he would himself 
instruct them. Soon the demand was too great. Extra teach- 
ers had to be employed, and an evening school was started in 
the Sunday school rooms. It had been decided to call the 
new building The Temple, so the new school was called The 
Temple College. After The Temple was completed, The Tem- 
ple College, which, in the meantime, had become a chartered 
institution, and a little later had received the right to confer 
all the usual college degrees, continued for a time to occupy 
the old church building in the evening, though the building 
had been sold to another congregation. While The Temple 
was building, and after its completion, much speculation was 
caused by two doors opening apparently from the gallery 
into outer space. The church did not own the lots adjoining. 
No one could surmise what these doors could possibly be for. 
The leader kept discreetly silent, no one shared his secret but 
the architect. The great Temple, seating three thousand 
people, was finished, built out of the loving sacrifices of a 
faithful people ; no great gifts, but many that represented rare 
heroism. The Temple was finished in the year of the pastor's 
fiftieth birthday, known to the church as its "golden year." 
All the floating indebtedness caused by finishing and furnish- 
ing was wiped out. About this time the people learned what 
the doors leading out into empty space were for. The Temple 
College had outgrown its first home, and had moved into 
private houses near The Temple, and prospering despite its 
hampered condition, must have better and larger quarters. 
Land was secured on Philadelphia's largest street south of 
The Temple. A building similar in style to The Temple was 



360 LEADERS OF MEN. 

built. Bridges sprang from the mysterious doors, and the two 
buildings were connected, and the college building was used 
for the Sunday school on Sunday ; yet the college had ceased 
to have any organic connection with the church, except that 
here as ever the people worked with their loved leader and 
helped by their gifts to make the new building possible. 

Soon another cry of need reached the leader. A small 
hospital in the northern part of the city, situated among 
many large manufacturing interests where accidents were 
occurring daily, was abandoned for lack of funds. Mr. Con- 
well hesitated to lay another burden upon the church, but 
called a few together who could best counsel in the matter 
and they agreed under his leadership to assume this work 
which became known as the Samaritan Hospital. While 
never legally connected with it, The Temple has always been 
closely associated with all that concerns the hospital and has 
given largely to its support. Then followed the Philadelphia 
Orphan's Home Society, and the opening of Conwell Academy 
at his old home in Massachusetts. 

Through all these years, in order to give more largely to 
philanthropy, Mr. Conwell has lectured over two hundred 
nights a year, adding new lectures from time to time. Oc- 
casionally on the train, away from libraries and all facilities, 
he has dictated whole books. 

His faith in his call to a mighty work was not without rea- 
son. The new Temple was as crowded as the former church 
had been and through the ten years since The Temple was 
opened the interest has not altered. Sunday after Sunday it is 
crowded to the doors, so many people from a distance fail- 
ing to get in that visitors' tickets have been used for ten 
years. With scarcely an hour in all the weeks for quiet study, 
those that know him most intimately marvel most as to when 
his sermon is prepared. He simply catches a thought from 
the prattle of a child, from the conversation of strangers, 
from the words of those around him, then works it out in 
the midst of all the cares. A few brief memoranda, the only 
signs of the work that has been done, are jotted down as he 
plans and executes many other things. Yet when the Sab- 
bath comes the strong man stands in his place, and unfolds a 
living theme to the people which they see they need to con- 
sider. Illustration after illustration, forcible, unusual, yet 



RUSSELL HERMAN CON WELL. 361 

fitting is given ; the lesson is driven home ; men and women 
go out helped and inspired. They could not tell you perhaps 
whether the sermon was a great one or not. There is no 
involved rhetoric ; no elegant, careful, aesthetic selection of 
words ; no confusing theological reasoning. All is as simple 
as the preaching of the Great Teacher. The hymns are sung 
with fervor; the Scripture is read with understanding; the 
prayer leads erring men and women to the feet of God with 
humble petitions for what they individually need, and when 
the benediction is pronounced men and women turn and 
greet each other in love and friendship because they have 
been led into a realization of the spirit of Christ. 

In these busy years when the details of the work have 
grown multitudinous much of the executive work must be 
given to others. But the leader is unchanged, his interest is 
unchanged. The church numbers now over three thousand 
members, still each one can go to Mr. Conwell freely when he 
can render any service. 

The college has over twenty-five hundred regular students 
besides several thousand more in attendance on public lec- 
tures, with over fifty professors ; yet President Conwell directs 
all its interests constantly ; plans for further development ; 
opens its chapel always when in the city ; is the final court 
of appeal for both students and faculty. 

The hospital treats over twelve hundred cases every month. 
Here, too, he is the leader, presiding at the meetings of its 
trustees, directing its policy, striving ever to make it an ideal 
Christian home for the sick and the wounded. 

All these enterprises cannot be carried on without very 
heavy financial burdens. Particularly is this true of the col- 
lege. Neither the church nor the college has ever had large 
financial aid from any one individual. The burden often 
presses very heavily, yet Mr. Conwell never falters. His faith 
in the ultimate success of his work never wavers. He be- 
lieves he was called of God to do this work and that in his 
own time God will crown these labors with success. 

He has been a pioneer in much of his work and has had to 
meet all the opposition that such a position brings. The full 
value of his labors will not be realized, perhaps, in the days 
of this generation. We say sometimes men lived too soon, 
before their generation. Too soon for personal ease and com- 



362 LEADERS OF MEN. 

fort but not too soon to set in motion great tides that trans- 
form the world. 

In Matthew Arnold's beautiful lines on Rugby Chapel, 
descriptive of his father, is expressed more forcibly than any 
words of the writer could hope to do, a picture of the man of 
whom we here speak: — 

" If in the paths of the world, 
Stones might have wounded thy feet, 
Toil or dejection have tried 
Thy spirit, of that we see 
Nothing — to us thou wast still 
Cheerful and helpful and firm, 
Therefore to thee it was given 
Many to save with thyself ; 
And, at the end of thy day, 
O faithful shepherd ! to come, 
Bringing thy sheep in thy hand." 

Never was man more patient with the faults of others. He 
can always afford to abide his time. Absolutely faithful in 
friendship, loath ever to believe evil of people, ready to save 
them from themselves when they do evil, forgiving readily 
those who sin against him, never willingly making an enemy, 
extending an ever ready sympathy to those that need it ; 
with a firm faith in his own calling and a steadfast belief 
that God is directing the affairs of men, he goes on to greater 
and greater usefulness as the years go by. 

The secret of Mr. Con well's success is. found, as it generally 
is in great men, in persistent, enthusiastic, hard work. His 
latest biographer, the Rev. Albert H. Smith, in his most 
excellent book speaks of Mr. Con well as a " great genius," 
and Mr. Robert J. Burdette, who wrote a much larger biogra- 
phy of Mr. Con well's life, speaks of him as "a man we must 
mention in the singular." But Mr. ConwelFs books, addresses, 
sermons, editorials, plans, and institutions show behind them 
a man with a mighty will curbed by patient good sense ; with 
a towering temper never beyond the completest control ; with 
a burning love for humanity, which nevertheless discrimi- 
nates amid the multitude who appeal to him for help ; with an 
uncompromising adherence to duty which closely considers 
the best way to do one's duty ; with a willingness to remain 




COL. CONWELL IN CAP AND GOWN. 



MINDING LITTLE THINGS. 365 

poor, but also showing a clear judgment in giving away his 
great earnings ; with a friendship which once given is never 
modified or recalled even when the friend has become an 
open enemy ; with a mind for most comprehensive plans and 
yet able to study and execute carefully the most numerous 
and minute details, he furnishes to the youth of America a 
most practical example of what a man may accomplish who 
consecrates himself wholly to God and humanity. 

MINDING LITTLE THINGS. 

;REAT things are the aggregate of littles ; great results 
proceed from little causes. Human life is a succession 
T of unimportant events ; only here and there one can be 
called great in itself. A crushing sorrow, the loss of a for- 
tune, physical and mental suffering, are the exceptions and 
not the rule of life. Experiences so small as scarcely to leave 
a trace behind, are the rule, producing, in the consummation, 
a life that is noble or ignoble, useful or useless, an honor or a 
disgrace. 

Success, in all departments of human effort, is won by 
attention to little things. The details of all kinds of business 
demand the closest attention. The pennies must be saved as 
well as the dollars. Indeed, it is the hundred pennies that 
make the dollar. So in literary pursuits ; careful regard to 
details, such as correct pronunciation and spelling, good read- 
ing, meaning of words, dotting i's and " minding p's and q ? s " 
generally, make up what we call an education. Only littles 
are found in the way to learning, and many of them are a 
small sort of drudgery ; but all of them must be taken up and 
carried along, if we would " make our lives sublime." Miss 
Alcott's literary heroes and heroines were "little men and 
women." 

" He who despiseth little things shall perish by little and 
little." Nevertheless, youth of both sexes are apt to disregard 
this divine counsel. Like the man in the parable who hid his 
one talent because it was so small, they want and expect 
larger things. They may not ask for ten talents, but they 
despise one. It is too insignificant to command their interest 
or admiration. Greater things or nothing. 

It is right here that many young people make a fatal mis- 
take, not believing or seeing that with this little they may 



366 LEADERS OF MEN. 

gain another little, and still another, and so on, up, up, up, to 
the great. They commit themselves to failure at the outset. 

A clerk in New York city was wont to take down the 
shutters at precisely six o'clock in the morning. While he 
was taking them down, rain or shine, an old gentleman passed 
by on his way to his place of business. The latter smiled 
so benignantly upon the former, that a hearty and familiar 
" Good morning," became natural to both. Month after 
month this mutual greeting continued, until one morning the 
old gentleman was missed, and he never appeared again. 
He was dead. 

Not long thereafter the enterprising and faithful clerk was 
waited upon by the administrator of the old man's estate and 
informed that the latter's store and stock of goods were willed 
to him. Attracted by the youth's promptness and fidelity, he 
inquired into his character and circumstances, and was satis- 
fied that he could leave that property to no one so likely to 
make good use of it as the clerk who took down the shutters 
at just six o'clock, summer and winter. 

Through this legacy the clerk was introduced into a profit- 
able business at once, and became one of the most wealthy, 
benevolent, and respected merchants of the city. 

A banker in the city of Paris, France, said to a boy who 
entered the bank : — 

" What now, my son ? " 

" Want a boy here ?" was the answer. 

" Not just now," the banker replied, engaging in further 
conversation with the lad, whose appearance favorably im- 
pressed him. 

When the boy went out, the eyes of the banker followed 
him into the street, where he saw him stoop to pick up a pin 
and fasten it to the collar of his coat. That act revealed to 
the banker a quality indispensable to a successful financier ; 
and he called the boy back, gave him a position, and in 
process of time, he became the most distinguished banker in 
Paris — Laffitte. 

A young man responded to the advertisement of a New 
York merchant for a clerk. After politely introducing him- 
self, the merchant engaged him in conversation as a test. 
Finally, he offered him a cigar, which the young man 
declined, saying : — 



MINDING LITTLE THINGS. 367 

" I never use tobacco in any form whatever." 

"Won't you take a glass of wine, then?" the merchant 
continued. 

" I never use intoxicating drinks under any circumstances," 
the young man answered. 

"Nor I," the merchant responded, "and you are just the 
young man I want." 

He had the key to the applicant's character now, and he 
wanted no further recommendation. 

" Very little things to make so much account of," some 
one will say. Yes, they are little things ; but all the more 
significant for that. " Straws show which way the wind 
blows." We say of the man who plans for the half-cent, he 
is avaricious ; of the youth who is rude in the company of 
females, he is ill-bred ; and of the letter writer who spells 
words incorrectly, his education is defective — all little things 
but all revelations. 

"Little causes produce great results." A gnat choked 
Pope Adrian, and his death occasioned very important 
changes in Europe and America. A bloody war between 
France and England was occasioned by a quarrel between 
two boy princes. " The Grasshopper War" in the early settle- 
ment of our country, was a conflict between two Indian tribes. 
An Indian squaw, with her little son, visited a friend in 
another tribe. Her boy caught a grasshopper, and the boy of 
her friend wanted it. The boys quarreled ; then the mothers 
took sides, and then the fathers and finally the two tribes 
waged a war which nearly destroyed one of them. Several 
centuries ago, some soldiers of Modena carried away a bucket 
from a public well in Bologna, and it occasioned a protracted 
war in which the king of Sardinia was taken prisoner and 
confined twenty-two years in prison, where he died. 

The first hint which Newton received leading to his most 
important optical discoveries, was derived from a child's soap 
bubbles. The waving of a shirt before the fire suggested to 
Stephen Montgolfier the idea of a balloon. Galileo observed 
the oscillations of a lamp in the metropolitan temple of Pisa, 
and it suggested to him the most correct method of measur- 
ing time. The art of printing was suggested by a man cut- 
ting letters on the bark of a tree, and impressing them on 
paper. The telescope was the outcome of a boy's amusement 



368 LEADERS OF MEN. 

with two glasses in his father's shop, where spectacles were 
made, varying the distance between them, and observing the 
effect. A spark of fire falling upon some chemicals led to 
the invention of gunpowder. Goodyear neglected his skillet 
until it was red hot, and the accident guided him to the man- 
ufacture of vulcanized rubber. Brunei learned how to tunnel 
the Thames by observing a tiny ship-worm perforate timber 
with its armed head. 

"Little foxes destroy the vines." Little sins sap the foun- 
dation of principle, and lead to greater sins. Cheating to 
the amount of one cent violates the divine law as much as 
swindling to the amount of a hundred dollars. The wrong 
does not lie in the amount involved. The stealing of a pin 
violates the law " Thou shalt not steal," as really as the tak- 
ing of a dollar. " He who is unjust in the least, is unjust in 
much;" that is, he acts upon the same principle that he would 
in perpetrating far greater sins. Indeed, he who does wrong 
for a small gain may incur the highest criminality, since he 
yields to the smallest temptation, thereby showing a readier 
disposition to sin. 

Smiles says, "As the daylight can be seen through very 
small holes, so little things will illustrate a person's character. 
Indeed, character consists in little acts, well and honorably 
performed." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SILAS WEIR MITCHELL. 

OBSERVATIONS ABOUT SUCCESSFUL CAREERS — BIRTHPLACE AND EDUCA- 
TION—AT HOME — THE DOCTOR HIS STUDY AS A CONVERSATIONALIST 

BRIC-A-BRAC THE AUTHOR FONDNESS FOR HIS NATIVE CITY HIS 

LITERARY CAREER LITERARY METHODS. PERILS OF SUCCESS. 

I am very far from conceding that the vehement energy 
with which we do our work is due altogether to greed. We 
probably idle less and play less than any 
other race, and the absence of national hab- 
its of sport leaves the man of business with 
no inducement to abandon that unceasing 
labor in which at last he finds his sole 
pleasure. He does not idle, or shoot, or 
fish, or play any game but euchre. Busi- 
ness absorbs him utterly, and at last he 
finds neither time nor desire for books. The 
newspaper is his sole literature : he has never 
had time to acquire a taste for any reading 
save his ledger. Honest friendship for books comes with 
youth or, as a rule, not at all. At last his hour of peril ar- 
rives. Then you may separate him from business, but you 
will find that to divorce his thoughts from it is impossible. 
The fiend of work he raised no man can lay. As to foreign 
travel, it wearies him. He has not the culture which makes 
it available or pleasant, and is now without resources. What 
then to advise I have asked myself countless times. Let him 
at least look to it that his boys go not the same evil road. 

The best business men are apt to think that their own suc- 
cessful careers represent the lives their children ought to fol- 
low, and that the four years of college spoil a lad for business. 
In reality these years, be they idle or filled with work, give 
young men the custom of play, and surround them with an 
atmosphere of culture, which leaves them with bountiful 
resources for hours of leisure, while they insure to them in 




370 LEADERS OF MEN. 

these years of growth, wholesome, unworried freedom from 
such business pressure as the successful parent is so apt to 
put on too youthful shoulders. 

ILAS WEIR MITCHELL, physician, scientist, and man 
of letters, was born in Philadelphia, February 15, 1829. 
He was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College 
in 1850, and not only stands in the front rank of physi- 
cians, but has made a distinguished name for himself in the 
field of literature as well. „ 

If you pull the door bell under the marble portico at 1524 
Walnut street, Philadelphia, in the evening, and find Dr. 
Mitchell at home, ten to one you will find him at leisure. It 
is a characteristic of his to do more work in a day than most 
of his generation, and yet to remain unhurried, receptive, and 
eager to laugh at the last good story. 

You have noticed as you paused on the steps that the house 
is of red brick above the first white marble story ; that it is 
roomy and stately, and that it stands in a comfortable row, 
once nearly uniform, whose complexion has changed with the 
taste of passing occupants. Inside, there is fulfillment of the 
promised size and ease, and when you enter the study at the 
rear and to the left, there is invitation in every Chippendale 
chair, every overflowing and bookish corner, to tarry, rest, 
and enjoy. 

A man's character is expressed in his clothes, and surely 
the room which he likes best, works in, inhabits most, is but 
an outer garment which tells a fuller tale than his personal 
apparel, because it has more to tell. Dr. Mitchell's entire 
house is an index of himself and of that other self whose pres- 
ence transforms it from a house to a home. Each room shows 
evidence of some characteristic taste or pursuit, and none 
more so than the second-story library, where the exquisite 
Delft ware stands, a passion only abated with the scarcity of 
its object. 

But the essentials of the man are to be seen in the study, 
and it is here that our impertinent inquiry must run him to 
earth. Perhaps he is seated by the smoldering wood fire, 



SILAS WEIR MITCHELL. 371 

book in hand, enjoying the tranquil luxury of an after-dinner 
cigar. If so, you are in luck, for such is the season of anec- 
dote, criticism, poetry, and reminiscence. His head is one to 
strike you, even in a circle of the elect. It somehow fulfills 
your ideal of a marked man. When Hay don had a great 
composition to paint, he sought his friends for sitters. He 
would have given Dr. Mitchell some central place as a figure 
denoting courage with urbanity, knowledge with sympathy, 
firmness with geniality. There is the touch of the artist in 
dress and poise, the keenness of the man of science in the 
piercing, half-shut eye. His talk is flowing, natural, delight- 
ful. It glances easily from letters to those deep experiences 
of medicine which so often give Dr. Mitchell's literature an 
authoritative ring unusual in fiction. The masterful neurol- 
ogist is artfully seen, or concealed, in the realistic senile 
decay of John Wynne ; in the hysteria of Octopia ; the insan- 
ity of Philetus Richmond ; and the scientist lurks in the 
author's conversation. Another familiar topic is war, with 
its examples of fear and courage, the surgical feats, its acts of 
self-giving bravery. This is no passing fad, but a lifelong 
study whence flows the objective power of the battle of Ger- 
mantown, as described in " Hugh Wynne,'' the splendid scenes 
in the trenches before Yorktown, and the battle pictures in 
" Roland Blake." 

And if these are some of the things Dr. Mitchell loves to 
talk about, here in his favorite room there is plentiful evi- 
dence that his speech is but a reflex of his tastes. Against 
the bookcase to the right hang conspicuously the swords 
that the doctor's three brothers carried during the Civil War. 
Pendent from these are a belt and holster pistol taken by 
Captain Robert Mitchell from a Confederate officer on the 
field of Antietam ; and, as a fitting climax for such tokens of 
the rebellion, above the corps-badges is the bronze life-mask 
of Lincoln. Beside it, on top of the bookcase, repose those 
hands of Lincoln which Mr. Stedman has immortalized in one 
of his most enduring poems. The swords are endeared to 
their possessor by many memoried associations, and they 
appear in several of his books, notably " Characteristics " and 
"When all the Woods are Green." To witness further his 
reverence for Lincoln you may turn over the portfolios of 
precious manuscripts and find a specimen or two of the great 



372 LEADERS OF MEN. 

president's historical correspondence. There is another sword 
with a record hanging beside those described. It is smaller 
and more delicate, and bears the label, "Bought at the sale of 
the effects of Joseph Bonaparte. This sword belonged to 
Louis Napoleon when he was a child." There are, too, some 
exquisite weapons of the Orient chased and ornamented with 
filigree silver grouped upon the old English mantel clock ; 
while close by to right and left are photographs old and 
faded now, but breathing the spirit of the sixties, which 
represent the brothers to whom belonged the swords. 

Thus does one of Dr. Mitchell's traits betray itself in his 
habitual surroundings ; but the controlling impulse of his 
career is none the less conspicuous. There are everywhere 
evidences that his experiences of war were gained in the pro- 
fession where he now stands first. As we shall see, "his liter- 
ary tastes pervade every corner of the room ; but that it is 
also the study of a physician proud of his calling you are 
never permitted to forget. Above the bookcases on each side 
of the fireplace hang portraits of two of the masters of medi- 
cine ; to the left, Hunter, to the right, Harvey. These are 
admirable copies done in the full spirit of the originals by Mrs. 
Anna Lea Merritt. They are large, dark, and impressive, 
giving the fine chamber, with its dull red hangings and quiet 
tone, a singular charm and a subdued dignity suggestive in 
many ways of work and of ease. 

Other remembrances of doctors are autograph letters 
framed between glass ; one from Hunter to Edward Jenner : 
and one from Jenner to Mr. Monroe when the latter was 
American Minister to England in 1806. These unique treas- 
ures are highly prized by Dr. Mitchell for their own sake ; but 
the last mentioned bears an added value in having been pre- 
sented by a famous fellow practitioner, Sir James Paget. 

On the opposite side of the room there is a singular draw- 
ing by Bertram Richardson, which shows the Harvey vault as 
it looked when opened in 1880. In the foreground are two 
ancient sarcophagi, and beyond these, two coffins on a shelf , 
the nearer one containing the remains of Harvey. 

Scattered about are not afew witnesses of a doctor's daily 
routine, which call us from the past to the busy present. Here 
are the engagements pinned to the lambrequin on the mantel 
— a curious habit of Dr. Mitchell's, which no mechanical 



SILAS WEIR MITCHELL. 373 

device may supersede ; here are the signs of an active, profes- 
sional, and public life, and of cares which go to fill up a varied 
career of endless occupation, of work enjoyed and of intel- 
lectual play which. most men would call labor. 

Besides the mask of Lincoln there are three others in the 
room. A life-mask of Beethoven's strong features hangs 
against one end of the bookshelves. The half-smiling face 
of Garrick stands on top of the case. This is the famous 
mask once owned by Mrs. Siddons and presented to her by 
Fanny Kemble, from whom it came, through her daughters, 
to Dr. Mitchell. Across the room, in a lighter corner, pre- 
served like the ark of the covenant, is the life-mask of Keats. 
This is better known now than when it was given to the doc- 
tor by William W. Story, in Rome, in 1891 ; but it dominates 
this room as its presiding genius ; and rightly, too, for of the 
doctors who were also poets Keats stands first. As an indica- 
tion of Dr. Mitchell's reverence for the genius thus perpetu- 
ated, I recollect how he bore a certain lady on his arm through 
a thronging reception down the crowded stairway, and brought 
her before this sad and beautiful face. Below it shine the 
brasses of Byron's gondola with the Byron arms, the coronet, 
and the motto, Crede Byron. 

To his choice little group of masks the doctor has added, 
since his return from abroad, a remarkable work of art with 
kindred effects. It is a marble face reproduced with Japanese 
fidelity from the recumbent statue of Guidarello Guidarelli 
erected on his tomb at Ravenna. This Guidarelli was a 
knight who flourished and died about 1502, and some skilled 
artist of his day has carved him in effigy as he lay in armor 
ready for burial. The visor is raised and the knightly face, 
wan and shrunken in death, has slipped from its poise and 
turns a trifle aside. The drawn eyelids and the lashes are 
rendered with a tender truthfulness, and the tone of the mar- 
ble itself, touched as it is by some ashen tints, lends a griev- 
ous reality to the strong face with its mingled expressions of 
life's battles and death's repose. We shall hear more of this 
treasure-trove, for it has inspired in its possessor a poem of 
singular felicity. 

And this brings us naturally from the doctor to the author. 
Indeed, there are abundant evidences present of a literary 
man's varied occupations. Here are books made precious by 



374 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the rarest autographs — Burns's copy of Pope inscribed " Rob- 
ert Burns, Poet," Sir "Walter Raleigh's "Tasso"; and near 
these are rows, which serve as the fighting corps of an active 
man of letters. On this shelf by the window there are exam- 
ples of the doctor's own books, among which is the green 
buckram cover of the unfamiliar single volume of "Hugh 
Wynne " in the English edition. Near by is a portrait in the 
low tones fit for black-and-white reproduction of that aggres- 
sive lady, Aunt Gainor Wynne. This is Mr. Howard Pyle's 
notion of her. and that it acceptably fills the author's ideal is 
betokened by its central place. On a lower shelf of another 
bookcase the author has set together many of the books which 
went to the making of " Hugh Wynne" and other stories of 
the war. More than a glance would be necessary to master 
even their titles ; but a few of these will stand for all. Here 
are Keith's "Provincial Councillors of Pennsylvania," 1733-76; 
Watson's "Annals," "The Knightly Soldier," by Trumbull ; 
John Fiske's " Critical Period of American History," " The 
True George Washington," by Paul Leicester Ford; "The 
Cannoneer," by Buell ; McMaster's history, and numberless 
diaries, some of them rare and precious. 

Books there are of medicine, art, and verse in abundance, 
with prints and periodicals wherever the eye wanders ; and 
on the mantel a row of photographs rich in literary associa- 
tions. Among these you will notice once or twice the vigor 
and sweetness of the face of Bishop Brooks in token of an 
early attachment which strengthened as it endured. 

There is no literary question in which Dr. Mitchell is not 
interested ; no literary germ which he does not heed and lend 
his fostering sympathy. The Saturday evenings when one 
goes informally and takes his chosen friends always produce 
some new faces, which brighten in the light reflected by the 
doctor's personality. He is eager to know the best and the 
newest that intellectual life produces, and his opportunities 
place him at the meeting of the ways whither every man of 
distinction who visits the Quaker City addresses his steps. 
But fellowship with those who have "arrived" is no bar to 
comradeship with those who are on the way, and hence the 
influence of the author at home whom we are describing is a 
distinct element in the advancement of the city he has done 
so much to honor and to interpret. 



SILAS WEIR MITCHELL. 375 

As you enter the study on a bright spring morning and 
look out upon the garden beyond, through the tall windows 
reaching to the floor, you will mark one of the elements in 
Dr. Mitchell's life which make him at once a successful doctor 
and a creative artist. The crocus beds, in the limited area of 
a city plot, stand for Nature at large. He draws from the 
great mother all his higher qualities, and it is his wise choice 
to live with her, unhurried by duties, six months of each year. 
In these seasons his books grow ; " Hugh Wynne " during the 
summer of '95; " Francois" a year later, and the summer 
following, a handful of poems. 

In the winter season the latchstring is out and Dr. Mitch- 
ell is at home. 

Dr. Wier Mitchell, among the varied interests of a most 
active life, has always had a great fondness for the history 
and traditions of his native state and city. His life reaches 
back to a period when the remains of a few colonial ways sur- 
vived, and when many people were living whose conversation 
could reveal still more. But he has gone far beyond anything 
that could be furnished from this source, and has made a 
most exhaustive study of the records and authorities. And 
one result of his researches is " Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker," 
published in two neat volumes by the Century Company. 
Novel readers are familiar with Dr. Mitchell's other books — 
" Hepzibah Guinness," " Roland Blake," " Far in the Forest," 
"In War Time," and "Characteristics." In some respects 
'•Hugh Wynne" is more ambitious than the others. It is a 
very important historical novel of permanent value, and treats 
with great completeness colonial life and manners in Phila- 
delphia at the time of the Revolution. It will be a revelation 
to most people who suppose that those times were colorless 
and dull. 

It is not often that a man can follow two professions and 
be successful in both, especially if one of them is literature. 
It not infrequently happens that a man may be a very good 
doctor or lawyer and produce literature of an ordinary kind. 
But that a man should be a real genius in literature, and at 
the same time stand high in medicine or law, seems almost 
superhuman. Daniel Webster came very near fulfilling these 
conditions. That he was an unusually able and successful 
lawyer and a statesman of remarkable merit is, of course, 



376 LEADERS OF MEN. 

unquestioned, and in his great speeches there is a touch of 
genuine literary genius. When we leave him and turn to the 
speeches of Clay or Calhoun, the other members of the great 
triumvirate, we miss this touch, an indescribable something 
which it is useless to attempt to define. They are able, 
talented, powerful, but the divine spark which occasionally 
glints and flashes in Webster is not there. 

It seems to be reserved for America to produce men of this 
double power ; and the thought should be taken to heart by 
those who carp at our climate and physical degeneracy, and 
maintain that we cannot live and increase by our own 
productiveness, unless assisted by shiploads of European 
outcasts. The double power means a deep-seated physical 
vitality and nervous force. It was Carlyle who, after meeting 
the lionlike Webster in England, said that he had often heard 
of American physical degeneracy, but had never before seen 
such a magnificent specimen of it. Dr. Holmes was another 
instance, not perhaps remarkable in his profession, but a hard 
worker and much respected in it, and with an undoubted 
literary genius which no one-would think of disputing. 

In Dr. Mitchell we have a modified form of this double 
type. It cannot be said that he has genius ; but he has very 
strong talent, and he stands far higher in his profession than 
Dr. Holmes. Though more than seventy years old he comes 
down every morning to find his front office crowded with 
patients, and he practices his profession with the same 
thoroughness, zeal, and earnestness which nearly half a cen- 
tury ago built up his great reputation. A tall man with a 
colossal head and a most impressive face, a lover of nature, 
addicted all his life to field sports, fishing, and camping in 
the wilderness, a believer in muscle and out of doors as a cure 
for disease and a stay for the moral faculties, he is the 
embodiment of the wholesome and vigorous side of life. 

Long before he wrote novels he had given the public sev- 
eral medical books, the result of his investigations and large 
experience in nervous diseases. He was connected during 
the Civil War with the first hospital established for giving 
special study and treatment to the cases where nervous injury 
had resulted from wounds. His book, " Injuries of Nerves,'' 
was the outcome of this experience, and he still follows up the 
history of the soldiers who went from that hospital, to record 



SILAS WEIR MITCHELL. 377 

every detail of their subsequent condition. Other books, 
" Doctor and Patient," " Wear and Tear," " Gunshot Wounds," 
and " Fat and Blood," have become classics in his profession ; 
and they are all written in a delightful style which makes 
them very interesting reading for the layman. " Doctor and 
Patient " seems to be particularly intended for laymen, and 
is likely to be very profitable to those who suffer from the 
strain and unnatural way of living of the times. 

There are few doctors in the country who have so many 
grateful patients, men and women who have been raised from 
chronic invalidism to robust activity, and who never weary of 
describing the traits of the man, who they say is their friend 
as well as their physician, and who has charmed them with 
the broad accomplishment of his mind and character. His 
methods are ingenious, original, and bold, he makes use of 
every means and facility that can be devised, and has a corps 
of assistants, nurses, and masseurs to carry out his intentions. 
Patients come to him from every part of the country ; he is 
continually called away to Baltimore, New York, and other 
cities ; and has received distinguished honors from foreign 
universities. One would suppose that this was enough to 
consume all his time and energy, even with his rapid methods 
of work and careful husbanding of hours. But there are 
some natures which cannot be kept within bounds. His novel 
and verse writing began as an amusement to pass away spare 
time on his summer vacations, and he probably did not expect 
to meet with very much success in it ; but literature has now 
for a long time been an important part of his career, and, 
judging by the number of editions some of his books pass 
through, a source of not a little profit. 

His poems, which have appeared in various forms in past 
years, are now collected in one good-sized volume. They are 
all interesting and worth reading, although they cannot be 
called powerful. Some of his dramas are distinctly good. 
Among his lyrical pieces several may be mentioned as out of 
the common, — " When the Cumberland Went Down," "Cer- 
vantes," and the "Wreck of the Emmeline." They are here 
given in the reverse order of merit. In the "Wreck of the 
Emmeline" he seems to get beyond his usual self ; this poem 
would compare very favorably with some of the best that 
have appeared since the Civil War. 



378 LEADERS OF MEN. 

His best novel, " Far in the Forest," has never met with as 
much success as the others, and the most probable explana- 
tion is that the title injured it. Its christening was certainly 
most unfortunate. People naturally supposed that it must be 
a boys' book, or a mere story of adventure or wild life. Bat 
in dramatic force, directness, and strong simplicity, it far 
exceeds all his others. In fact, it seems to have been written 
by a different person. Even the style is totally different. It 
may be that in his other novels he has consciously or uncon- 
sciously felt his way to the line of least resistance, which 
enables him to give a story full of detail and circumstance 
without feeling himself bound by the severest rules of art. 
There is a great deal of that sort of thing done nowadays, and 
it would be well if the trained literary critics would investi- 
gate its general effects on the literature of the age. 

The admirers of Dr. Mitchell would, probably, all prefer to 
have had him guide himself always by the old, severe, classic 
rules. But perhaps he is the best judge of his own mission ; 
and he has certainly forged out a style and manner of his 
own, full of incident and intellectual force. In any event, he 
has not gone into the new method so far as some who, by 
adopting a tone which is easy of accomplishment and accept- 
able to the public, cease to develop their originality and inde- 
pendence, and become mere adapters. These adapters will 3 of 
course, reply : Wait and see. The majority are the best 
judges, and in the end the only judges. The method of novel 
writing has changed. We cannot forever follow the old ideals 
of art. That type can in any event be reached only by a great 
genius, and in it only a genius can produce a work which will 
be popular. 

This doctrine has certainly become the prevailing one in 
America. We have been flooded with it for twenty years, 
and it is associated with the Germanizing of our colleges and 
the change in methods of education. But the standard of 
art, the test of correct performance, has never changed since 
the days of Homer, and it is not likely that we Americans of 
this age can change it. To suppose that we can is not a whit 
different from the delusion of the silver party, that by the free 
coinage of the white metal we could compel all the rest of the 
world to accept it against their will as the equivalent of gold. 

There is no reason for a change. The old test can be used 



PERILS OF SUCCESS. 381 

for an infinite variety of purposes, for every circumstance that 
can arise and for every age and, condition that the future has 
in store. Thackeray, Dickens, and Scott found it as well 
suited to the life of their times as Homer for his environment 
two thousand years before. 

The writers of France and England still accept it. Their 
second and third rate writers, men of mere talent without 
genius, live up to it to the extent of their powers, and their 
work is the better for it, and far superior to our work of the 
same class. Even in the United States it continually outsells 
our own. 

PERILS OF SUCCESS. 

•J* X the military family of Washington was one, in the early 
T ' part of the Revolution, whose great ability, courage, and 
J social qualities commanded universal praise. He had no 
peer in the service of the court and the camp. Washing- 
ton, himself, regarded his rich endowments of mind and per- 
son as the assurance of the highest and most valuable service 
to his oppressed and distracted country. But when, at the 
height of his success in public life, Aaron Burr allowed his 
baser passions to usurp the place of patriotism and purity, he 
died, "not as Adams, and Jefferson, and Washington sank 
into the grave, amidst the tears and prayers of a great nation, 
but in shame, solitude, and gloom, this profligate, whose ambi- 
tion it was to tread the fairest flowers into the dust, passed 
away to the bar of a just God." 

A successful merchant of New York city retired from 
business at forty-five years of age, rich, honored, and sat- 
isfied. It is a mistake for men of forty-five to dream and 
plan for relief from business thereafter. To desire ease, with 
nothing to do, at that age, when the physical and mental 
powers are in their prime, is a mistaken view of one's life 
work. However successful a person has been up to that time, 
there is real peril in the idea that a fortune and a good char- 
acter at forty-five entitles one to retire from business and live 
at ease. It proved so in the case of the wealthy New York 
merchant. After the care and labor of establishing a princely 
home on the Hudson were exhausted, and he had nothing to 
do, a few months sufficed to tell upon his constitution. He 
began to tire of the monotony, his health became impaired, 
sleepless nights made him miserable, and finally he became a 



382 LEADERS OF MEN. 

confirmed invalid, whom physicians tried in vain to restore. 
His wealth yielded him no happiness, his beautiful home lost 
its attractions, and he would have parted with the last dollar 
of his riches could he have been transferred to his counting- 
room, with all its care, perplexities, and hard work. He died 
before his fiftieth birthday, an illustration, in his untimely 
death, of the perils of success. Had he been less prosperous, 
so that he felt the necessity of continuing in business, indus- 
trious, enterprising, and tireless, until the winters of three- 
score years and ten had frosted his head, he might have 
enjoyed an old age that is a crown of glory. 

There are more men and women who are demoralized 
by success on certain lines than are made more manly and 
womanly by it. The command of human praise, the ability to 
shine asa" bright, particular star," the worshipful attention 
of their fellow men that falls to their lot, drift them away 
from their surroundings, until, upon a tempestuous sea, with- 
out chart or compass, they sink into unknown depths. Robert 
Walpole remarked, "It is fortunate that few men can be 
prime ministers, because it is fortunate that few men can 
know the abandoned profligacy of the human mind." How- 
ever much exaggeration there was in the sentiment expressed, 
it certainly contains the unquestioned truth that peculiar 
perils lurk in the paths of those who share high honors, great 
power, and overflowing wealth. Wealth hoarded, honor used 
to inflate pride, and learning acquired for a name only, are 
mistaken notions of success, that make it the occasion of dis- 
grace and failure. One of the most successful members of 
the New York bar, a score of years ago, allowed his own life 
to illustrate our theme. He was talented, eloquent, and mag- 
netic on the rostrum and in the parlor. His practice increased 
beyond his most sanguine expectations. On account of his 
abundant gifts, demands were made upon him outside of the 
legal profession, and he was brought largely thereby into 
public life. Money poured into his lap, his acquaintance and 
counsel were sought by the wealthiest class, and he shared 
general confidence because he was a man of moral and 
Christian principles. Few men of any profession were ever 
so successful as he at the time of his marriage. He married 
a society woman, who introduced him into a social life alto- 
gether new to him. Heavy drafts upon his time and purse 



PERILS OF SUCCESS. 383 

multiplied in this new relation as the years rolled on. The 
enjoyment of his wife, and the bewilderment of social 
splendor, blinded him to the inevitable issue of affairs, until 
pecuniary embarrassment stared him in the face. In this 
hour of temptation, the unlawful appropriation of trust funds 
to relieve his condition brought him into disgrace, and made 
his life a failure. But for his success at the bar, in social 
and political life, his career might have rounded into one of 
the noblest and best on record. 

Stephen Girard devoted his life to the acquisition of 
wealth, and he was eminently successful in that line. He 
left his home in France, at ten years of age, and sailed as 
cabin boy to the West Indies. Thence he proceeded to New 
York, where he began to trade in small wares, in a small way, 
and from that time he became a marked example of the prac- 
tical wisdom of a man whose ruling passion is to be rich. 
Sometimes he traded in the city in whatever merchandise 
promised him even the smallest profit, sometimes he com- 
manded a ship upon a voyage to a distant country in the in- 
terest of gain. Then a trip of hundreds of miles on land to 
add to his accumulating wealth enlisted his utmost energy. 
There was no sort of merchandise that he refused to handle, 
no sort of labor that he declined to perform, and no hardship 
that he would not undergo for money. As if some magical 
power invested his head and hands with a charm, every en- 
terprise that he undertook added largely and rapidly to his 
wealth. His touch, like that of the mythical Midas, turned 
everything into gold. Yet his success only fed a base love of 
money that belittled his manhood, shriveled his soul, and sent 
him out of the world a worshiper of gold, his life a failure. 

Success in reforms often brings reformers into great tribu- 
lation. So long as they do not multiply achievements to any 
extent they are tolerated, but when they show themselves to 
be a power, the opposition is aroused, and hardships and 
perils multiply. This was eminently true of Luther. Born 
to an inheritance of poverty, the son of a poor miner, he was 
compelled to sing from house to house in order to obtain 
money to pay for his schooling. It was the reading of the 
Scriptures in the convent at Erfurth that opened his eyes to 
behold the truth, and started him out upon a mission that 
moved the world. He said : "God ordered that I should be- 



384 LEADERS OF MEN. 

come a monk, that, being taught by experience, I might take 
up my pen against the pope." It was David attacking Goliath 
of Gath ; and from that time the perils of his success began. 
So long as he was the harmless son of a poor miner, he at- 
tracted little attention, and pushed onward and upward with- 
out opposition. For a poor peasant boy to advance as Luther 
did was a signal success, and it was this that created his 
perils. The young monk at Erfurth was proving that he was 
a power, and as such he must be antagonized. He must be 
gagged ; he must be banished ; he must be killed, if neces- 
sary ! He must be silenced here and now. There was no 
alternative, and persecution did its worst. It was in this sea 
of perils, confronting the emperor, princes, and nobles, and 
dignitaries of the Church, in the city of Worms, that he ap- 
peared to realize that success had brought him to the verge of 
his grave. When ordered to retract the doctrines he had pro- 
claimed or forfeit his life, he answered, as the Christian hero 
will : "Unless I shall be refuted and convinced by testimonies 
of the Holy Scriptures, or by public, clear, and evident argu- 
ments and reasons, I cannot and will not retract anything, 
since I believe neither the pope nor the councils alone, and 
since it is neither safe nor advisable to do anything against 
the conscience. Here I stand. I cannot otherwise ; God help 
me ! Amen." His faith saved him from death. Enemies 
dared not kill such a servant of God. 

It is the same with other reforms. The anti-slavery cause 
was tolerated until it became a conflict. When it grew to 
strength, and attracted public attention as an organized 
agency to destroy slavery, then its troubles began. Success 
up to a certain point, when the enemy declared, "thus far, 
but no farther." Then perils multiplied, anathemas, per- 
secutions, mobs, assaults, and death, until the anti-slavery 
reformer actually took his life into his hands to plead for 

liberty. 

The secret of growth is to do to-day what we could not 
have done yesterday. It requires no striving, or extra effort, 
to do to-morrow what we can do to-day as well as not. The 
effort of doing something greater and better is necessary : for 
this keeps the faculties at their highest tension, in which 
there is growth. It is in this way that a youth acquires cul- 
ture, and eventually becomes learned ; in this way the artisan 



PERILS OF SUCCESS. 385 

becomes an expert,, and contributes to the skilled labor of the 
world ; in this way, too, the artist becomes able to execute 
the most difficult music, or transfer his beau ideal to the can- 
vas. It is the effort to improve or excel, taxing the powers 
more and more, that develops manhood and womanhood, 
mentally and morally. 

When Edison was thirteen years of age, he sold papers on 
the trains of the Grand Trunk Railway, his home and head- 
quarters being at Port Huron, Michigan. A boy by the name 
of James A. Clancy was his partner in the business. Their 
homes were a mile apart, and it became quite indispensable 
for them to have some speedy way of corresponding with 
each other. Edison proposed a telegraph. So they purchased 
a quantity of stovepipe wire and put up the line, trees serv- 
ing them for poles. An operator in the place taught them the 
telegraphic alphabet, and how to use it. Here was Edison's 
initiation into the mysteries of electrical science. If he had 
been content with that short-line telegraph, and the good he 
derived from it, the world would never have heard of his 
phonograph. But he was not content. That smattering of 
knowledge stimulated his inventive genius, so that he has 
been acting upon the principle ever since of doing to-morrow 
what was not possible to-day. His growth has been phenom- 
enal because his method of reducing the principle in question 
to practice has been phenomenal. He is still advancing on 
this line, and is doing to-day what he could not have done 
yesterday. Hence, one invention follows another naturally, 
as he expects it will so long as his inventive powers are 
stretched to their utmost tension for greater acquisitions. 
Between his one-mile telegraph in 1861, and his present posi- 
tion as '-The Wizard of Menlo Park," there are personal 
struggles, studies, and masterly efforts beyond computation. 

The mere money-maker may grow in shrewdness and 
worldly wisdom, but his manhood does not enlarge and 
become ennobling. His mind must grasp higher themes, 
that will tax something more than his avaricious nature, to 
secure real growth. He may become rich as Croesus, but a 
miser has no real manhood ; he is a small specimen of 
humanity. If, while acquiring a fortune, he allows himself 
to acquire knowledge by dint of perseverance, and become 
personally and deeply interested in philanthropic enterprises, 



386 LEADERS OF MEN. 

his whole man feels the force of his efforts. The higher and 
nobler themes of thought and study make his mental and 
moral growth inevitable. 

Many farmers do not grow in manly character as they 
advance in years. They till the soil as their fathers did before 
them, content to plant, sow, and reap as the seasons come 
and go, without improvement of themselves or their farms. 
But it is not so with all. Agricultural science taxes their 
mental powers. They study the nature of the soils, the meth- 
ods of improving crops and stock, and the many other sci- 
entific subjects that are involved in successful agriculture. 
They grow constantly in intelligence and manly qualities. 
Higher thoughts lift them out of the old humdrum life of 
their grandfathers, and they dwell in a new sphere of labor, 
in which social and intellectual growth is certain. Taxing 
the mind is the secret of making farming a real discipline. 

Of two young men or women, of equal ability and like cir- 
cumstances, one may attend divine worship on the Sabbath 
constantly, and the other may not attend at all. The former 
becomes far more intelligent than the latter. His intellect is 
more active and sharper, so that the difference is apparent to 
every observer. The explanation is that the mind of the first 
has been taxed in the house of God by the discussion of higher 
and grander themes. He has been prompted to think and 
reflect on a higher plane, while the other has groveled in that 
lower life that characterizes those who neglect public worship. 
Not one subject of thought was high enough, or noble enough, 
to lift him above his surroundings. David said : "I know 
more than the ancients, because I have kept Thy precepts," — 
and David was right. Every person who is obedient to God, 
not only knows more than he who is not, other things being 
equal, but lie has acquired a mental power by grasping 
greater themes, to which the disobedient is a stranger. Of 
two children, alike in natural endowments and in opportuni- 
ties, the obedient one knows more than the disobedient. He 
practices all the higher qualities that obedience involves, and, 
therefore, he knows all about them, while the other knows 
absolutely nothing of them. To know honesty, a man must 
be honest, just as to know astronomy he must master it. So 
with the good life : the effort for it stimulates both intellect 
and soul by the necessity of studying and comprehending the 
highest themes. 



PERILS OF SUCCESS. 387 

These facts show why the dude never grows except in van- 
ity, — his passion for dress furnishes food for little else. His 
thoughts do not rise above his personal appearance, his mind 
grasps only belittling themes. So with the girl who lives only 
in a world of pleasure and apparel. — she grows vain, but she 
does not grow brighter and better. She never can grow men- 
tally and morally on this low plane of life. We learn, also, 
why the constant reader of dime novels, and other trashy lit- 
erature, knows no more at forty or fifty years of age than at 
fifteen. He has had nothing uplifting to think about, so that 
mental and moral growth was impossible. The mind was 
made to think with ; and, in order to grow, it must have 
something worth thinking about. 

The most eminent example of our theme, in our day, is 
that of Dwight L. Moody, the evangelist. A wide-awake 
boy, poor and naughty, causing his good Christian mother 
great anxiety, he possessed, nevertheless, decision, firmness, 
self-reliance, and indomitable force of character. Just the 
boy to go to ruin under certain circumstances ! Just the boy 
to make a John Knox or Whitefield under other circum- 
stances ! " Uncle Samuel Holton," boot and shoe dealer of 
Boston, knowing how headstrong and unmanageable he was, 
advised his mother to " keep him at home in Northfield ; such 
a boy will be ruined in three months in Boston." 

But young Moody's ardor was not dampened by his uncle's 
opinion. At sixteen, he packed up his clothes and left North- 
field for Boston. "Uncle Holton" was somewhat dum- 
founded by his presence, but, speedily taking in the situation, 
he said : " Dwight, I will give you a place in my store on these 
conditions : you shall board where I wish to have you ; you 
shall go to meeting with me every Sabbath ; and you shall 
join the Sabbath school." 

Dwight accepted the conditions, and went to work with a 
will. His tact, energy, intelligence, and remarkable effi- 
ciency, soon made him an indispensable helper in the store ; 
and his brightness, punctuality, and constancy at church and 
Sabbath school, drew the attention of both pastor and teacher. 
He was converted to Christ, and united with the church ; and 
now he must work for his new Master in the church, as he did 
for the old one in the store, with all his might. He was on fire 
for Christ, and therefore irrepressible. He spoke and prayed 



388 • LEADERS OF MEN. 

in meeting, mutilating the King's English shockingly, and 
grammar suffered martyrdom at his hands with every effort. 
Pastor and people hung their heads, — the young Christian 
hero was too rough on the refinement of Boston. But he must 
work for the Lord or be unhappy, and seeing a field in Chi- 
cago for his powers, thither he went. He became salesman in 
a large boot and shoe house of that city, and stepped to the 
front at once in the business. Other salesmen complained that 
he got most of the customers. " Gets them fairly,'' replied his 
employer. He joined Plymouth Church, and at once rented 
four pews and filled them the next Sabbath with young men 
from the street, showing as much tact in drumming up recruits 
for the Lord as he did in bringing customers to the warehouse. 
He offered to teach a class in the Sabbath school. " Gather a 
class from the streets, and you may teach them," replied the 
superintendent. The next Sabbath he had a class of ''street 
Arabs," numbering eighteen, some of them hatless and shoe- 
less. Within a few weeks he had a mission school of his own, 
where two hundred drinking and gambling hells flourished 
around it. He quit business and devoted his whole time to 
Christian work. Soon he had a church, and became a 
preacher of the gospel. Onward and upward he continued, 
until he addressed more people at any one time, and at all 
times, than any other preacher on earth, brought more sinners 
to Christ than any other pastor or evangelist who ever lived, 
and became known as the model expository preacher of the 
nineteenth century, at whose feet the graduates of theologi- 
cal seminaries gladly sat to learn how to preach. 

What is the secret of such a life '? In business, he worked 
with all his might, and prospered. He kept his physical and 
mental powers on the stretch all the time, so that he grew and 
stood at the head of salesmen. In like manner, he kept his 
moral and spiritual powers on the stretch constantly, growing 
surprisingly in mental and moral power. This taxing all his 
powers to the utmost, year after year, produced a life almost 
without a parallel. 

Many youth and adults make a fatal mistake by thinking 
that the way to grow morally, and become strong in princi- 
ple, is to have a personal acquaintance with the vicious side 
of life. They must know from personal observation what its 
sins and pitfalls are. Tbey must peer into that land of dark- 



PERILS OF SUCCESS. 389 

ness. This has often proved a fatal delusion. It is necessary 
to know only the way to honor and usefulness in order to get 
there. To know the opposite is no help at all. It is not neces- 
sary to learn the way to perdition in order to reach heaven. 
A passenger said to the pilot on a Mississippi steamer, " How 
long have you been a pilot on these waters ? " The old man 
answered, " Twenty-five years, and I came up and down 
many times before I was pilot." " Then," said the passenger, 
" I should think you must know every rock and sandbank on 
the river." The pilot smiled at the man's simplicity, and 
replied, " Oh, no I don't ! But I know where the deep water 
is ; that is what we want, — to know the safe path and keep 
to it." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. 

ON HAPPINESS TWO ESTIMATES OP" PRESIDENT ELIOT HIS CONTEM- 
PORARIES AN EARLY APPRECIATION OE HIS ADMINISTRATIVE ABILITIES 

AS A TEACHER IN HARVARD CHOSEN PRESIDENT OK HARVARD A 

PERIOD OF RECONSTRUCTION THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM SOME FACTS AND 

FIGURES HIS EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AT HEART A DEMOCRAT — 

AS AN ESSAYIST HIS INFLUENCE WITH STUDENTS A RELIGIOUS MAN 

AS AN ADMINISTRATOR CHARACTERISTICS. THE SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE. 



Earthly happiness is not dependent upon the amount of 
one's possessions or the nature of one's employment. Enjoy- 
ment and satisfaction are accessible to poor 
and rich, to humble and high alike, if only 
they cultivate the physical, mental, and moral 
faculties through which the natural joys are 
won. Any man may win them who, by his 
daily labor, can earn a wholesome living for 
himself and his family. A poorer population 
may easily be happier than a richer, if it be 
of sounder health and morality. 

Neither generations of privileged an- 
cestors, nor large inherited possessions, are 
necessary to the making of a lady or gentleman. What is 
necessary? In the first place, natural gifts. The gentleman 
is born in a democracy, no less than in a monarchy. In other 
words he is a person of fine bodily and spiritual qualities, 
mostly innate. Secondly, he must have, through elementary 
education, early access to books, and therefore to great 
thoughts and high examples. Thirdly, he must be early 
brought into contact with some refined and noble person — 
father, mother, teacher, pastor, employer, or friend. These 
are the only conditions in peaceful times. 





u^Ak^ 






CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. 391 

PEAKING at the Harvard Commencement dinner in 
1901, Theodore Roosevelt, then vice-president of the 
United States and now its president, a graduate of 
Harvard, said that perhaps the most distinctive fea- 
ture of ihe work done at Harvard University by its presi- 
dent, Charles William Eliot, was the way in which he has 
made it thoroughly national and thoroughly democratic in 
character. 

The president of Yale University, Arthur T. Hadley, at a 
dinner of Harvard graduates in 1900, said: "'I wish to pro- 
pose to you the health of President Eliot, who, by his work, 
his example, his thought, and his fearlessness, has given 
every educational institution the right to claim him.*' 

In these cordial words of President Hadley, the estimate 
of President Eliot as an educator, commonly held by his co- 
laborers in the noble teaching profession, is voiced. Obviously, 
a man so highly esteemed by men so eminent as President 
Roosevelt and President Hadley should be understood and 
appreciated by all men. As a matter of fact, there are prob- 
ably few men of equal length of public service and grade of 
character in the nation so misunderstood or underrated by 
the public, as the veteran but virile president. 

He has lived long enough, however, to see the theory of 
education, which he has championed at Harvard, triumph, 
and to have it conceded by those competent to judge, that 
probably no other person in the history of American educa- 
tion, save Horace Mann, has so deeply stamped his ideals on 
our scheme of popular education. Like Mann, he has had to 
fight to win ; and he has had to fight against much the same 
conservative forces. During the struggle he has known 

" Many a grim and haggard day — 
Many a night of starless skies." 

Mann's statue stands side by side with Daniel Webster's in 
front of the state capitol of Massachusetts to-day. Possibly 
the time will come when Eliot's and Hoar's will find a like 
place of distinction. At any rate, it is worth noting that the 
old commonwealth keeps producing, generation after gener- 
ation, publicists like Webster and Hoar and educators like 
Mann and Eliot. 

Thomas Jefferson, by laying the foundations of the Uni- 



392 LEADERS OF MEN. 

versity of Virginia ; John Witherspoon, of Princeton, by his 
brilliant playing of the dual role of college executive and 
patriot ; Eliphalet Nott, of Union, Francis Wayland, of 
Brown, .Mark Hopkins, of "Williams, by their inspiring per- 
sonal influence on young men ; James McCosh, by his success 
in building up the resources of Princeton through impressing 
men of wealth with their duties as stewards ; and Henry Bar- 
nard, by his pioneer work as journalist, for the profession, 
have all played conspicuous parts in the history of American 
education. But Horace Mann and Charles William Eliot, — 
the one by his influence on primary and secondary schools, 
and the other by his influence on the universities, colleges, 
and secondary schools of the country, — have a sum total of 
achievement credited to them which rightly puts them in a 
class by themselves, the class of constructive educators. 

Since he was inaugurated president of Harvard University 
in October, 18G0, then only thirty-five years old, Mr. Eliot has 
seen a generation of public men pass away. So that to-day 
he speaks with the authority of age as well as that of station. 
Of the Corporation and the Faculty of Harvard in 1869 he is 
the only survivor. Of New England representatives in the 
United States Congress when he entered upon his responsible 
career, Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, and Senator Hale, of 
Maine, are the best known survivors. Of the great group of 
New England authors then regnant, only Julia Ward Howe, 
Edward Everett Hale, and T. W 7 . Higginson remain. Of 
notable educators, the distrust and condemnation of some of 
whom he was early made to know because of his spirit of 
innovation and reconstruction, Theodore Woolsey and Noah 
Porter, of Yale, Julius H. Seelye, of Amherst, Mark Hopkins, 
of Williams, Frederick A. P. Barnard, of Columbia, and 
James McCosh, of Princeton, have died ; and Daniel C. Gil- 
man, of Johns Hopkins, Andrew D. White, of Cornell, and 
Charles K. Adams, of Wisconsin, have retired. The only col- 
lege or university executives in the country with a national 
reputation whose terms of office approach his in length are 
James B. Angell, of the University of Michigan, and Cyrus 
Northrop, of the University of Minnesota. He is the Nestor 
of American educators. 

In venturing to appraise such a career as President Eliot's, 
one realizes at the outset that it has been long enough and 






CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. 393 

constant enough in its aim to provide sufficient data for an 
appraisal. Vigorous in health and ambitious for further serv- 
ice as the man still is, and fruitful and effective as he bids fair 
to be for many years to come, he will not alter in essential 
attributes of character. He may reveal to the many some of 
those elements of his character hitherto seen only by the few. 
But the flower and the fruit will be but the certain product of 
roots that long ago struck deep in rich soil, and of a trunk 
and branches that long since were clearly defined against the 
sky. 

It is a useless, but none the less tempting, venture of the 
imagination to try to conceive what would have been the 
state of religion in the United States — and in New England 
especially — had Phillips Brooks not failed as a school teacher 
and then entered the ministry of the church to play the part 
of a liberal prophet. It is equally tempting and futile to 
imagine how different the history of Harvard University and 
of the higher education of the United. States might have been 
had Charles William Eliot accepted an offer of a salary (large 
for the times and for one so young) of $5,000 a year as treas- 
urer of a large cotton manufacturing establishment in Lowell, 
Mass., offered to him shortly after his graduation from Har- 
vard in 1853. Thus early in his life had wise men detected in 
him latent capacities as an administrator. But the youth had 
ancestors and kinsfolk who were friends of and exponents of 
learning, as well as ancestors who were successful merchants. 
Several of them had been clergymen ; not a few had been 
donors to Harvard ; all of them had been lovers of the human- 
ities. His father, Hon. Samuel A. Eliot, had been the patron 
of fine music in Boston, and a friend of the discharged pris- 
oner when discharged prisoners had fewer friends than they 
have to-day. Both his uncle, after whom he was named, and 
his father had studied theology ; and his only living son, Rev. 
Samuel A. Eliot, president of the American Unitarian Asso- 
ciation, well maintains the family tradition and spirit to-day. 
Service of humanity through the ministry of a learned pro- 
fession, therefore, was an ideal present in the home in which 
the youth was simply, piously, and nobly reared. Hence it is 
not altogether surprising that he chose the profession of edu- 
cator and not the calling of treasurer of a cotton mill. 

From 1S54 to 1858 he served as tutor in mathematics at 



394 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Harvard while studying advanced chemistry with Prof. J. P. 
Cooke. From 1858 to 18G3 he was assistant professor of math- 
ematics and chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School, 
Harvard. During 1 863-05 he was in Europe studying chemis- 
try and investigating the educational methods of the European 
schools. From 1805 to 1869, when he was called to Harvard 
as president, he was professor of analytical chemistry in the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

It was while busy teaching chemistry,— and busy, also, 
with speculations as to how the new scientific thought was to 
modify and transform, perchance, educational ideals and 
methods, — that Professor Eliot found himself, in 1868, com- 
pelled, as an alumnus, to face the problem of the future of 
Harvard. The Rev. Thomas Hill, D.D., the president, had 
resigned. 

The honor of presiding over the destinies of Harvard even 
in those days, when the educator's rank in the community 
was not as high as it is now, was not one to go a-begging. 
Tradition called for a safe, reputable clergyman, such as Pres- 
idents Walker or Hill, or a man of eminence in public life such 
as Presidents Everett and Quincy, had been. The idea of choos- 
ing a youth of thirty-five, a scientist (then a term suspected 
somewhat even by liberals), who was untried as an adminis- 
trator, shocked the conservatives. Early in the campaign 
champions of Professor Eliot had appeared. He had powerful 
backing of various sorts. He had written for the Atlantic 
Monthly articles on the New Education which had disclosed 
to the public his thorough acquaintance with the best thought 
on education in European circles, while his candor in point- 
ing out defects in American education revealed a quality of 
mind not very common in the country at the time or now, 
and to be revealed by him many times afterward in his 
speeches and writings. 

In view of the choice that was made, and in view of the 
fame which John Fiske won later in his life, it js worth while 
to go back to one of his earliest communications to The 
Nation, written in 1868, when he was a graduate student at 
Harvard, in which unsigned editorial on the situation at Har- 
vard he warned those responsible for the choice of president 
against selecting either a Philistine, a Tory, a Radical, or a 
Sectarian. 



CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. 395 

Decision of the matter rested, in the first instance, with 
the Corporation, — six men, all advanced in years, and there- 
fore inclined to be conservative. They chose young Professor 
Eliot. The Board of Overseers, made up of thirty of the 
alumni, refused to ratify the choice. The Corporation refused 
to recede, and again named Mr. Eliot. Then the Board of 
Overseers capitulated, but not gracefully, and at the next 
Commencement dinner the young president had a cool recep- 
tion. 

No sooner was he elected — in May, 1869 — and inaugurated 
— in October — than the work of construction and co-ordina- 
tion at Harvard began. For it is as a constructor. — not, as is 
popularly supposed, as an iconoclast and destroyer, — that 
President Eliot rightly says he cares to be (and surely will be) 
remembered. Departments of the university, like the Medical 
School, independent of the university in matters too vital to 
be tolerated longer, were soon brought into proper relations to 
the governing body. The Law School was revitalized, and a 
dean — Prof. C. C. Langdell — chosen, who, in due time, radi- 
cally altered its mode of teaching and studying law, and who 
has lived to see the school take first rank. Later, the Divinity 
School was approached in the constructive spirit, and trans- 
formed from a sectarian training school for the clergy of the 
Unitarian denomination, to a school of theology, where repre- 
sentatives of many sects both teach and study. Its standards 
of admission were raised ; its degrees were made honorable, 
because representative of proven scholarship ; and its status 
as a part of the university was bettered generalh'. 

So far from being content to know only the life of the col- 
lege proper, and to preside over its faculty meetings, the new 
president was prompt in assuming the right to preside over 
the faculty meetings of the various profess-ional schools, and 
at once asserted prerogatives never claimed before. It was 
not presumption ; it was only common sense. He was presi- 
dent of Harvard University, not president of Harvard Col- 
lege, and president and unifying factor in the university he 
would be. 

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, then on the Faculty of the 
Medical School, in a letter to Motley, the historian, described 
the sensation which this attitude of the new president made 
at the time. He wrote, in 1871 : — 



396 LEADERS OF MEN. 

'"Our new president has turned the whole university over 
like a flapjack. There never was such a bouleversement as 

that in our Medical Faculty It is so curious to see 

a young man like Eliot, with an organizing brain, a firm will, 
a grave, calm, dignified presence, taking the ribbons of our 
classical coach-and-six, feeling the horses' mouths, putting a 
check on this one's capers, and touching that one with a lash, 
turning up everywhere in every faculty (I belong to three), on 
every public occasion, at every dinner ome, and taking it all 
as naturally as if he had been born president." 

In an earlier letter to Motley, Holmes wrote : — 

" I cannot help being amused at some of the scenes we have 
in our Medical Faculty — this cool, grave young man propos- 
ing, in the calmest way, to turn everything topsy-turvy. 

" ' How is it, I should like to ask,' said one of our number 
the other evening, ' that this faculty has gone on for eighty 
years managing its own affairs, and doing it well — how is it. 
that we have been going on so well in the same orderly path 
for eighty years, and now, within three or four months, it is 
proposed to change all our modes of carrying on the school ; 
it seems very extraordinary, and I should like to know how it 
happens ? ' 

" 'I can answer Dr. "s question very easily,' said the 

bland, grave young man ; 'there is a new president.' The 
tranquil assurance of this answer had an effect such as I 
hardly ever knew produced by the most eloquent sentences I 
ever heard." 

Another story of the period comes from the law department ; 
one of the professors — also a prominent public official, it is 
said — having exclaimed as the new president entered his 
room in the Law School : "Well, I declare ! the president of 
Harvard College in Dane Hall ! This is a new sight ! " 

It is commonly supposed that because President Eliot has 
championed the elective system at Harvard, and has seen its 
triumph there, and has lived to see it accepted by institutions 
which for long condemned the system and him as well for 
championing it, that therefore he was the originator of the 
system. This is a misconception. The elective principle was 
rooted at Harvard as early as 1825. He found, to quote his own 
words on the matter, "a tolerably broad elective system 
already under way," when he became president. The scien- 



CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. 397 

tific discoveries of the era and the expansion of the field of 
knowledge had, as President Eliot has pointed out, simply 
made it impossible for a college to include in its required 
studies all of the old and new subjects. Human limitations 
as to time and energy made some choice of studies by the 
student inevitable. Hence, it was a practical problem of 
administrative detail, not a new theory, which the young 
president faced and worked out patiently. His immediate 
predecessors as president had not believed in the new system, 
and had lessened rather than increased its range. He 
believed in the principle, and he knew a fact when he saw it. 
Recognition of facts may almost be said to be his dominant 
intellectual characteristic. Dr. William T. Harris aptly de- 
scribes him as " one who holds with an iron grasp the facts 
of his time." 

" Do you know the qualities you will need most out there 
at Harvard ?" President Eliot was asked by George S. Hil- 
lard, a well-known Boston man-of-letters, shortly after his 
election. The president mentioned industry and courage. 
" No," replied Mr. Hillard, "what you will need is patience 
— patience — patience." The assent of three boards of offi- 
cials has had to be won for the successive steps which now 
make the principle of individual election of studies regnant. 
The Faculty, the Board of Overseers, the Corporation, are 
neither of them groups of men to be coerced, but rather con- 
vinced by arguments or by facts. Nor would President Eliot 
have it otherwise. For, contrary again to the popular impres- 
sion, he is not a dictator, but a persuader ; not a despot, but a 
loyal executor of the majority's will after it has been decreed 
by debate and a vote in the academic legislature. "A uni- 
versity is the last place in the world for a dictator ; learning 
is always republican," he says. 

What has been accomplished at Harvard to a very large 
extent through his superior vision, steady will, and inspiring 
optimism may best be learned in brief compass from the 
accompanying statistics. Faithful, intelligent co-operation 
of his colleagues on the faculty and the official boards, and 
generous giving by the alumni, account for much of it, to be 
sure. But his has been the largest personal contribution. A 
recent president of the United States was wittily described 
by the late Senator Ingalls as "splendidly equipped and 



398 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



magnificently disqualified for executive functions." Equip- 
ment, physical and mental, and moral qualifications have 
been finely blended in President Eliot. 

No one would think of disputing Professor Dunbar's state- 
ment, made in 1804, when President Eliot and the university 
celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his inauguration as 
president, that no name, after the founder of the university, 
John Harvard, " is yet engraved so deeply on this enduring 
monument as that of Charles William Eliot." Prof essor Charles 
Eliot Norton, on the same occasion, said that the enlargement 
of Harvard's "resources, the elevation of her standards, the 
extension of her courses of instruction, the deepening of her 
sense of relation to the life of the nation and the strengthen- 
ing of that relation, have all been in accord with the general 
progress of the country ; and that they have been so is due, 
more than to any other single agency, to the character of the 
man who, during this period, has been at her head." It is 
interesting to find Professor Norton and President Roosevelt 
agreeing on the work which Professor Eliot has done in mak- 
ing the ties between the nation and the university more vital. 
They differ on so many matters that agreement on this point 
is the more significant. 

The following statistics show the growth of Harvard dur- 
ing President Eliot's administration : — 



Seniors, 

Juniors, 

Sophomores, 

Freshmen, 

Special students, 

Graduate School. 

Divinity School, 

Law School, 

Medical School, 

Scientific School, 

Bussey Institution, 

Dental School, 

Summer- course students, 

Total, 



1868-69. 


1901-02 


110 


346 


132 


412 


159 


533 


128 


551 





141 





312 


19 


37 


138 


628 


308 


506 


41 


549 


13 


32 


— 


105 


— - 


982 



1,048 



5,134 



CHARLES WILLIAM EL TOT. 



399 



Invested funds, 

Income, .... 

Teachers, 

Buildings, 

Volumes in college libraries, 



1868-69. 

518,390,542 

212,388 

63 

23 

168,000 



1001-02. 

L3, 119,538 

697,575 

■483 

54 

387,097 



The fundamental principles in education for which Presi- 
dent Eliot has stood are easily determined, if one will read his 
annual reports as president and his collection of addresses on 
educational topics brought together in his volume, "Educa- 
tional Reforms," published in 1898. The true end of educa- 
tion he conceives to be to secure " effective power in action," 
action of the diverse faculties of man, physical, mental, and 
spiritual. " The power of observation, the inductive faculty, 
the sober imagination, the sincere and proportionate judg- 
ment," — these were what in his inaugural he prophesied that 
the universities and colleges of the country would gain from 
the scientific method ; and it would be hard to find a better 
single phrase describing his own type of mind. "Observa- 
tion " is a word used as often as any other in his vocabulary. 

His ideal for the university has been that it should teach, 
serve as a storehouse for knowledge by its libraries, muse- 
ums, etc., and that it should provide opportunity for original 
research ; and among the many subjects which it should teach 
he has always emphasized " virtue, duty, piety, and right- 
eousness." His associates have found him the champion of 
liberty of thought and speech and action. The professors 
have learned that the candor with which the president speaks 
his mind may be imitated by them in opposing his policies, or 
in opposing one another's views, and this without impairing in 
the least their standing in the university or the tenure of 
their place. 

For the student, whether in the university or in the sec- 
ondary schools, he has pleaded for and secured to a large 
degree, that " every child without special favor" should " get 
at the right subject at the right age, and pursue it just as far 
and as fast as he is able." An individualist by temperament 
and by conviction, he has stoutly championed individualism 
in education, holding that " uniformity is the curse of Ameri- 
can schools," that " selection of studies for the individual, 
instruction addressed to the individual, irregular promotion, 



400 LEADERS OF MEN. 

grading by natural capacity and rapidity of attainment," is 
the educational ideal. And to-day a properly equipped student 
entering Harvard, following this theory of education, may 
finish the course and receive the degree of A.B. in three 
years, — another Harvard precedent which other institutions 
sooner or later will follow. 

As a citizen and patriot, President Eliot is "a democratic 
aristocrat " as one of his closest friends has described him. 
He is, with more or less truth, said to be "more interested in 
man than in men." Like F. W. Robertson he can say, "My 
tastes are with the aristocrat " ; but he could not add with 
Robertson, "my principles are with the mob." President 
Eliot does not believe in the mob : he believes in experts, 
coming out from the people, representing the people, guiding 
the people, standing for the people, and being respected by 
them. In his inaugural he denounced as "preposterous and 
criminal," and as constituting a national danger, the notion 
that our lawgivers, diplomats, the commanding officers of our 
navy and army, can be developed instantly out of the ordi- 
nary American citizen. He loses no opportunity to ridicule 
the "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" 1 dogma born of the 
French Revolution. He prefers " Freedom, Unity, and Broth- 
erhood," as an American watchword. He denies that all 
men are created equal ; but he labors indefatigably to give 
"accessibility of appropriate opportunity" to all men to 
become all that they can become. 

But at heart he is a democrat. He believes in the Ameri- 
can republic and that it will endure. He believes "that 
democracy is tough, tougher than any other form of govern- 
ment which has yet existed, because it is founded on the best 
side of human nature." Here crops out the persistent, funda- 
mental optimism of the man, which has its basis in his faith 
in humanity as such, no opportunity being lost by him to 
attack what he believes to be a pernicious heresy, namely, 
the doctrine of innate human depravity. He believes there 
are "more real nobles" in our American democracy than in 
the aristocracy of any other land ; and his definition of the 
American aristocracy is suggestive : "the aristocracy which 
in peace stands firmest for the public honor and renown, and in 
war rides first into the murderous thickets." His main plea 
for the enrichment of the courses of the secondary schools lias 



CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. 401 

been that the poor man's boy may have as good a chance as 
the rich man's son ere he begins to labor. He served notice 
in his inaugural that Harvard would welcome rich and poor 
alike, and he has been loyal to his pledge. President Roose- 
velt says that he has democratized the institution. 

As a public speaker and debater, President Eliot is rated 
very high by those who can appreciate precision, dignity, 
rationality. Man and mode harmonize. He recalls Pater's 
description of Cornelius Fronto, the tutor in the family of 
Marius the Epicurean. " The higher claim of his style was 
rightly understood to be in gravity and self-command," it is 
said of Fronto. So of Eliot. Amiel's tribute to Naville also 
comes to mind. There is the same " art of premeditated and 
self-controlled eloquence," the same "complete command of 
the resources of his own nature, and adequate and masterly 
expression of self." It is power through repose ; and power 
in repose. 

For the masses his method would be unpopular. Passion is 
sternly repressed. The stream of lava runs on, black, cool 
on the surface, with only a glint now and then telling of the 
fire beneath. There are very few gestures, and those calm 
and restrained. The voice is steady, varies little in tone, has 
few modulations reflecting interior moods. There is seldom 
any formal salutatory or peroration. There is always a cumu- 
lative effect, but it is the effect of a steady marshaling of facts 
and argument ; it is an effect due to clarity, cogency, sincer- 
ity, the absence of all claptrap and fustian, all flattery, and 
all appeal to the sentimental. The attitude of the man implies 
profound self-respect, and an equally deep sense of obligation 
to be equal to the opportunity of convincing men and women. 
The tone and method are conversational rather than declama- 
tory. The motive is conviction rather than persuasion ; or if 
persuasion, persuasion going hand in hand with conviction. 
He has studiously avoided what he has described as " the 
fatal habit of prolonged, unpremeditated eloquence." One 
sitting down to listen to him speak is " safe against specious 
rhetoric and imaginative oratory " — to quote another of his 
sayings, which throws a side light on his ideals of eloquence. 

To a generation of New Englanders led to believe that in 
Edward Everett, Rufus Choate, Robert C. Winthrop, Charles 
Sumner, and Wendell Phillips, the art of oratory reached per- 



402 LEADERS OF HEX. 

fection of method, because of grace of expression, wealth of 
literary and historical allusion, and passion unrestrained as 
with Sumner and Phillips, the type of eloquence of which 
President Eliot is a great exemplar must have seemed very 
strange at first. That he has lived long enough to see his type 
triumph, whether temporarily or permanently, need not be 
said now. Joseph Choate dare not deal with judges or juries 
as did Rufus Choate. Rhetoric and imagination and dogma- 
tism are at a discount now at the bar, in the pulpit, on the 
hustings, in the halls of Congress. Time flies. Facts are 
worth more than theories. A spirit of tolerance discounts 
invective and distrusts dogmatism. 

Bagehot says of Gibbon's pompous, marching style of writ- 
ing English, that it was a style in which truth could not be 
told. Seldom has there been an English prose style less pomp- 
ous and more veracious than the prose of President Eliot. 
The veracity, the Roman directness of method, the sweep and 
precision of his mental operations, are all revealed in his 
modes of expression, whether spoken or written. Everything 
extraneous is excluded. Figures of speech are infrequent ; 
and when they are used they are homely, not ornate. Horace 
Walpole's criticism of Samuel Johnson, " He illustrates till he 
fatigues, and continues to prove after he has convinced,'' does 
not lie at President Eliot's door. .First of all, there is a state- 
ment of facts or conditions as they exist, the report of an eye 
trained to see, an ear trained to hear, a judgment trained to 
compare. This lucid statement of facts often is deemed suffi- 
cient to carry its own argument ; but if generalizations are 
forthcoming, they are so framed as to reveal the judicial 
quality of the mind of the man. Perspicuity, cogency, candor, 
naturalness, are invariable qualities of President Eliot's prose. 

His two volumes of essays, " Educational Reforms," and 
"American Contributions to Civilization,"' are collections of 
addresses delivered from time to time on academic occasions, 
or are articles contributed to the leading American month- 
lies. He has written no formal, elaborate study of the prob- 
lem of education or of democracy's social problems. No elabo- 
rate biography of a friend or a colleague has he found time to 
write ; but there are intimations that a life of his gifted son, 
the landscape architect, who died a few years ago, will be 
forthcoming from him soon. 



CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. 403 

Such literary work as has been done by him is prophetic 
of better work to follow, in days of more leisure. He is a 
master of precise, dignified, sententious English, — English 
like Huxley's in the qualities of scientific exposition, lucidity, 
emphasis on the end in view, and relative disregard of the 
method employed ; but unlike Huxley's in its aversion to 
brilliant phrases, and in its lack of vivacity. 

It has been said that the prose of President Eliot is pre- 
eminently sententious ; that in the writing of epitaphs, or 
ascriptions of praise for the living such as accompany his 
conferring of degrees at Harvard each Commencement, or in 
the phrasing of inscriptions on public buildings, such as those 
he wrote for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, he 
is at his best. It is true that he is sententious often. A col- 
lection of very admirable sayings, equal to some of Benjamin 
Franklin's best, might be culled from his speeches. He 
seldom if ever lets feeling allow him to soar. Rhetoric for 
rhetoric's sake is alien to him. It probably seems to most 
of those who have heard him or read him that he writes 
or speaks mainly, if not solely, for practicable, serviceable 
ends. But one errs who limits him to mastery of the sentence 
alone, or who denies him sweep of expression sufficient to 
create perfect larger units of thought. 

It is no chance happening, but rather a very natural and 
also a significant phenomenon, that Huxley, Tyndall, Henry 
Drummond, John Fiske, and Charles W. Eliot, all popular 
expositors of scientific methods and conclusions in the realms 
of science, philosophy, religion, and education, should have 
perfected such an understandable, pellucid English style. 

In his relations to the student community. President Eliot 
has been quite unlike the typical college president of the era 
preceding his own. Mark Hopkins' methods and his methods 
are antithetical. Comparatively few men during his presi- 
dency have left Harvard who could say that he had, sensibly, 
directly affected their code of belief or standard of living. 
He has seemed to stand aloof. At the start he abandoned the 
in loco parentis conception of government for the university, 
and for himself as head of it. Personal knowledge of the 
men, personal interest in individuals while undergraduates, 
such knowledge as Hopkins of old had, or such acquaintance 
with or influence over students as Tucker, of Dartmouth, now 



404 LEADERS OF MEN. 

has, he has never coveted, or, if coveted, he has never found 
time or energy to win. But it is not safe to impute this atti- 
tude to lack of solicitude for the men, or the failure to realize 
how potent his personal touch might be. In the first place, it 
is a physical impossibility for a university president to do at 
all what the president of a small college may do with more or 
less success. That President Eliot has often revealed deep, 
self-sacrificing sympathy for members of the university 
circle — teachers and students — who have been in sorrow, 
despair, or want, is no secret in Cambridge ; and his zeal in 
caring for Harvard graduates who seek and deserve places of 
influence is well known. But he came to Harvard to be a 
statesman, not a father confessor ; or, as another has put it, 
he has been the " Foreign Secretary rather than the Secretary 
of the Interior." 

His direct spiritual and ethical influence on the students 
consequently has been less than it might have been had the 
task of constructive institutional reform been less. But 
indirectly his influence has been marked. First, by preserv- 
ing the life of the university so that it should make for liberty 
of thought, speech, and conduct, for individual choice of 
studies and friends. Second, by his close touch with professors, 
who have passed on to the student body the tone and opinions 
revealed by him in the debate of the faculty meeting or in 
the conversation of the closest conference. Third, by his 
influence in reconstructing the religious ministrations provided 
by the university for the students, changes making for reality, 
reverence, and catholicity of spirit. Fourth, by his personal 
example as a man of honor, sobriety, and piety, whose very 
carriage implies self-respect and elevation of mind, and 
whose constant attendance on religious exercises reveals the 
high estimate he puts on daily communion with the Infinite. 

For, contrary to the impressions of not a few people, some 
of whom may still go so far as to call him an infidel, President 
Eliot is a profoundly religious man. He was born and reared 
a Unitarian, and still is one by preference. By conviction he 
is an Independent, preferring naturally a polity of church 
government which gives a maximum of independence of 
belief and action to the individual. As a man — but not as 
an official of Harvard — he will vigorously champion his own 
views on doctrine and polity if need be. But as an official he 



CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. 405 

stands for absolute freedom of thought, and for variety of 
worship in the college chapel or in Brooks House. 

He recognized in his inaugural that the method of faith 
was different from the method of natural science ; and while 
his scientific mode of thought has kept him from credulity, his 
faith has kept him from irreverence or that atrophy of the 
spiritual powers not unknown to some scientists. He con- 
ceives of God as a God of Love, and that the exaltation of the 
idea of God is the noblest service one can render humanity ; 
of evil as an unfathomable mystery to be sure, but less influ- 
ential and permanent than the Good as a factor in human 
existence. Prayer he describes as "the transcendent effort of 
human intelligence " ; and to him Phillips Brooks was great- 
est as a pray-er, not as a preacher. Poetry, of which he is 
very fond, "has its culmination in a hymn of praise." The 
Gospels contain for him a satisfactory rule of a happy life 
and disclose the principles of all modern democracy ; and 
preaching the Gospel is, to him, the highest calling known to 
men. Revelation he holds to be constant and progressive, 
"fluent like creation," and for the "deposit theory of truth" 
he has no respect. 

The church he deems a permanent organ of society's best 
life, " worshiping together being a permanent instinct of 
men." For the life that now is, asceticism, as a rule of con- 
duct, has no support from him, — temperance, not total absti- 
nence, being his rule and practice. The greatest joy in life, 
after the domestic affections, he deems to be "the doing of 
something and doing it well." As for the life to come in 
another world his outlook is cheerful, one "framed in full 
harmony with the beauty of the visible universe, and with 
the sweetness of domestic affections and joys." This repeated 
exaltation of the domestic joys by him is but the reflection of 
a life singularly beautiful as son, husband, parent, and grand- 
parent. Toleration in matters of religion, President Eliot 
believes, "is the best fruit of all the struggles, labors, and 
sorrows of the civilized nations during the last four cen- 
turies/' 

Such, in his own words, or in paraphrases of the same, 
are some of the views on fundamentalreligious themes of 
the man, of whom President Tucker of Dartmouth has said, 
"President Eliot is the most religious man among us." 



406 LEADERS OF MEN. 

On the ethical side his pre-eminence is quite as great. He 
is a humanized Puritan, but none the less a Puritan at bottom. 
Men who know him best put his moral passion as his chief 
quality. "Truth and right are above utility in all realms 
of thought and action," said he in his inaugural. "With 
nations, as with individuals, nothing but moral supremacy is 
immutable and forever beneficent,'' said he at the inaugura- 
tion of President Gilman of Johns Hopkins, in 1876. The last 
and most essential element of all worthy educators he defines 
as "the steady inculcation of those supreme ideals through 
which the human race is uplifted and ennobled — the ideals of 
beauty, honor, duty, and love." 

Addressing the Chamber of Commerce, of New York city, 
in 1800, he described the service which a university may ren- 
der to the higher commercial and industrial activity of the 
state ; and he utilized the opportunity to plead for adequate 
support of universities by merchants. But he closed by rising 
above the utilitarian plane to a higher one, and he went on to 
show that while popular comfort, ease, and wealth are doubt- 
less promoted by universities, " their true and sufficient ends 
are knowledge and righteousness." 

It has been this ever-present idealism, along with keen- 
ness for facts, sagacity, prudence, " liking for administrative 
details," to quote his own words about himself, which has 
given him his present weight of authority. His profound 
Puritan sense of duty, his passion for truth, his fairness in 
weighing conflicting personal and institutional claims, his 
success as a peacemaker, his terrible but sublime candor, his 
unflinching courage in facing issues and men, his abounding 
rational optimism, and his humane instincts have won for 
him the profound respect of those who have known him long- 
est and seen him most. 

" Nobody's name lives in this world — to be blessed — that 
has not been associated with some kind of human emanci- 
pation, physical, mental, or moral," said President Eliot, 
in a debate a few years ago. " In a democracy it is import- 
ant to discriminate influence from authority. Rulers or mag- 
istrates may or may not be persons of influence ; but many 
persons of influence never become rulers, magistrates, or 
representatives in parliaments or legislatures." he w/*ote in 
his striking essay on "Five American Contributions to Civi- 




PRESIDENT ELIOT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



THE SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE. 409 

lization." President Eliot's name will live as an American 
emancipator of the individual man from the tyranny of uni- 
formity in education, and from the rule of sectarianism in 
religion and in the teaching of theology. His authority has 
been limited to Harvard, and has not been absolute there. 
But his influence has been national, affecting not only the 
educational but the social and political fabric, aiding in 
bringing in civil service and tariff reform, rationalizing tem- 
perance agitation and education ; and now, through his recent 
election as one of the representatives of the public on the tri- 
partite body which is to arbitrate on disputes between capital 
and labor, he is about to be powerful in bringing in an era of 
industrial peace. Any list of the six men in this country 
to-day most influential in shaping its opinion on fundamental 
questions from which the name of Charles William Eliot is 
omitted will be imperfect. 

" Though he 's not judged, yet 
He 's the same as judged ; 
So do the facts abound and superabound." 

THE SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE. 

k R. NOTT, the venerable president of Union College, once 
took a newly married pair aside and said : "I want to 
give you this advice, my children, — don't try to be 
happy. Happiness is a shy nymph, and if you chase her you 
will never catch her. But just go on quietly and do your 
duty, and she will come to you." These few plain words con- 
tain more real wisdom than years of moralizings, or whole 
volumes of metaphysical vagaries. It is a great truth, often 
forgotten, and still oftener unheeded, that those who make 
happiness a pursuit, generally have a fruitless chase. 

Madame Recamier, one of the most fascinating queens of 
French society, with every surrounding seemingly favorable 
to the highest earthly happiness, from the calm, still depths 
of her heart wrote to her niece : " I am here in the center of 
fetes, princesses, illuminations, spectacles. Two of my win- 
dows face the ballroom, the other two the theater. Amidst 
this clatter I am in perfect solitude. I sit and muse on the 
shore of the ocean. I go over all the sad and joyous circum- 



■410 LEADERS OF MEN. 

stances of my life. I hope that you will be happier than I 
have been." 

Lord Chesterfield, whose courtly manners and varied 
accomplishments made him a particular favorite in the high- 
est society of his day, after a life of pleasure thus sums up 
the results: " I have run the silly rounds of pleasure, and have 
done with them all. I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the 
world ; I appraise them at their real worth, which is, in truth, 
very low. Those who have only seen their outsides, always 
overrate them ; but I have been behind the scenes. When I 
reflect on what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I 
have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivo- 
lous hurry and bustle of pleasure in the world had any 
reality ; but I look upon all that is past as one of those 
romantic dreams which opium commonly occasions : and I 
do by no means desire to repeat the nauseous dose." 

A man in great depression of spirits once consulted a 
London physician as to how he could regain his health and 
cheerfulness. Matthews, the noted comedian, was then 
convulsing great crowds by his wit and drollery, and the 
physician advised his melancholy patient to go to hear him. 
"Ah," said the gloomy man, " I am Matthews." And so, 
while he was amusing thousands by his apparent gayety and 
overflow of spirits, his own heart was suffering from the can- 
ker of despair. 

After the death of a powerful caliph of a Spanish province, 
a paper in his handwriting was found, in which were these 
words: " Fifty years have elapsed since I became caliph. I 
have possessed riches, honors, pleasures, friends, — in short, 
everything that man can desire in this world. I have reckoned 
up the days in which I could say I was really happy, and they 
amount to fourteen." 

Madame de Pompadour, who possessed such boundless 
influence over the king of France, and for a time swayed the 
destinies of that country, thus discloses her misery even in 
the plenitude of her power, and at the full height of her 
dazzling career : " What a situation is that of the great ! 
They only live in the future, and are only happy in hope. 
There is no peace in ambition ; it is always gloomy, and often 
unreasonably so. The kindness of the king, the regards of 
the courtiers, the attachment of my domestics, and the 



THE SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE. 411 

fidelity of a large number of friends, make me happy no 
longer." Then, after stating that she is weary of, and cannot 
endure, her magnificent furniture and residences, she adds : 
" In a word, I do not live : I am dead before my time. I have 
no interest in the world. Everything conspires to embitter 
my life."' The remorse of an outraged conscience could not 
be assuaged by any display of worldly splendor. 

On the monument of a once powerful pope is engraved, by 
his order, these words: "Here lies Adrian VI., who was 
never so unhappy in any period of his life, as that in which 
he was a prince." 

Edmund Burke, after attaining the most exalted position 
as an orator and statesman, said that he would not give one 
peck of refuse wheat for all that is called fame in this world. 
Byron, after making the whole earth ring with the music of 
his measures, confessed that his life had been passed in 
wretchedness, and that he longed to rush into the thickest of 
the battle, that he might end his miserable existence by a 
sudden death. Rothschild and Girard, both possessing mil- 
lions, were wretched men, living and toiling like galley slaves, 
and knew nothing of that happiness which, like sunshine, 
brightens and cheers everything. 

Some one has happily defined happiness as "the result of 
harmonious powers, steadily bent on pursuits that seek a 
worthy end. It is not the lazy man's dower, nor the sensual- 
ist's privilege. It is reserved for the worker, and can never 
be grasped and held save by true manhood and womanhood. 

A great deal of the unhappiness in the world is caused by 
want of proper occupation. The mind is incessantly active, 
and if not occupied with something more worthy it will prey 
upon itself. It is one of the greatest misfortunes in life to be 
without a purpose : to drift hither and thither, at the mercy 
of every whim and impulse. 

How many there are like a certain wealthy French gentle- 
man of taste and culture, who had read much and traveled 
much, but. having no high aim in life, became surfeited with 
worldly pleasure, and grew weary of existence ! He said : "I 
am at a loss what to do. I know not where to go or what to 
see that I am not already acquainted with. There is nothing 
new to sharpen my curiosity, or stimulate me to exertion. 
I am sated. Life to me has exhausted its charms. The world 



412 LEADERS OF MEN. 

has no new face to show me, nor can it open any new pros- 
pect to my view." 

A noble purpose is the cure for such disorders of the mind, 
and no better advice could be given than that which the poet 
Rogers gave to Lady Holland, whose life was almost intoler- 
able from ennui : " Try to do a little good." 

Sir William Jones, himself a prodigy of industry, in speak- 
ing of the necessity of labor, said : "I apprehend there is 
not a more miserable, as well as more worthless being than a 
young man of fortune, who has nothing to do but to find some 
new way of doing nothing." 

Many who have gained distinction have declared that the 
happiest period of their lives was when they were struggling 
with poverty, and working with all their might to raise them- 
selves above it. 

William Chambers, the famous publisher, of Edinburgh, 
when speaking of the labor of his early days, says : "I look 
back to those times with great pleasure, and I am almost 
sorry that I have not to go through the same experience 
again ; for I reaped more pleasure when I had not a sixpence 
in my pocket, studying in a garret in Edinburgh, than I now 
find when sitting amid all the elegancies and comforts of a 
parlor.*' 

But happiness demands not only that our powers shall be 
worthily employed, but that we shall be actuated by a gener- 
ous and unselfish spirit. There is nothing so bracing as to 
live outside of one's self ; to be in some way the means of 
making brighter and happier the lives of others. We know 
little of true enjoyment unless we have spoken kind words of 
encouragement to those in distress, or lent a helping hand in 
time of trouble. 

A gentleman was once asked : "What action gave you 
the greatest pleasure in life ? " He replied : " When I stopped 
the sale of a poor widow's furniture by paying a small sum 
due by her for rent, and received her blessing.'" 

Happiness may be found in the line of duty, no matter 
where the way leads. 

Many have been the attempts to correctly define happi- 
ness. Varrow made note of two hundred and eighty differ- 
ent opinions, but the secret is one of the heart, and not of 
the intellect. A clear conscience, a kind heart, and a worthy 



THE SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE. 413 

aim, will do much toward making life a perpetual feast of 
joy ; but this feast will be made up of a succession of small 
pleasures, which flow from the round of our daily duties as 
sparkling ripples from a fountain. 

" Happiness/' says a writer, "is a mosaic, composed of 
many smaller stones. Each, taken apart and viewed singly, 
may be of little value ; but when all are grouped together, 
and judiciously combined and set, they form a pleasing and 
graceful whole, — a costly jewel." 

The kind words we speak will be echoed back to us from 
the lips of others, and the good that we do will be as seed 
sown in good ground, bringing forth an hundred fold. 

" An Italian bishop, who had struggled through many 
difficulties, was asked the secret of his always being so 
happy. He replied : ' In whatever state I am. I first of all 
look up to heaven, and remember that my great business is to 
get there. I then look down upon the earth, and call to mind 
how small a space I shall soon fill in it. I then look abroad in 
the world, and see what multitudes are in all respects less 
happy than myself. And then I learn where true happiness 
is placed, where all my cares must end, and how little reason 
I ever have to murmur or to be otherwise than thankful.' ' 

True happiness, then, which defies all change of time and 
circumstances, and is perfect and unalloyed, can be found 
only in that source of all goodness — God himself. 



CHAPTER XX. 

JOSEPH JEFFERSON. 

SUCCESS AS UNDERSTOOD BY MR. JEFFERSON HIS RANK AMONG ACTORS 

BLENDING OF THE MAN AND ACTOR HIS THEATRICAL LINEAGE MA- 
TERNAL ANCESTRY BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY SURROUNDINGS GLIMPSES 

OF JEFFERSON IN THE EARLY DAYS THE MEXICAN WAR PERIOD — HIS 

FIRST PERMANENT SUCCESS IN AUSTRALIA VISITS SOUTH AMERICA 

HIS CAREER IN LONDON LATER CAREER — HIS PERFORMANCES OF RIP 

VAN WINKLE HIS ART. HOW TO BE INSIGNIFICANT. 

Success means in the ordinary sense, as I take it, the 
full achievement of any object we have in view. 

If it is the mere accumulation of money 
it is quite evident that this may be accom- 
plished both by honest and dishonest means 
— but I cannot call this success in either 
case. The honest achievement of having 
been of service to the world and to one's 
own family and friends, terminating in a 
career of an unblemished name, is what I 
should call success. 

This service should be, in all cases, en- 
tirely free from selfishness, and may often- 
times be extended to the general enlightenment and prosperity 
of our common humanity. 





OSEPH JEFFERSON, the comedian, now in the autumn 
of his distinguished professional career, is one of the 
most famous and one of the best beloved actors, whether 
at home or abroad. The first thought that naturally 
occurs to the observer of his renown is the thought of its 



JOSEPH JEFFERSON. 415 

singular beauty, tranquillity, and beneficence. Mr. Jefferson 
has been a long time in public life, and he has made his way 
to eminence and fortune through a period marked by the 
uncommonly fierce strife of conflicting ambitions ; but prob- 
ably he never had an enemy in the world. Simply to mention 
his name is to conjure up pleasant memories and awaken 
feelings of kindness. He has been seen far and wide, in all 
parts of the United States, in Canada, in Australia and New 
Zealand, and throughout the British Isles, and the influence 
that he has everywhere diffused has been bright, gentle, and 
pure. It is not alone the exquisite finish of his dramatic art 
that has prevailed with the world, gaining for Mr. Jefferson 
a first place in the public mind ; the tender, sympathetic spirit 
of humanity and the sweet poetic charm that radiate from his 
spirit and suffuse his acting with kindly warmth and mys- 
terious fascination have equally endeared him to the public 
heart. 

It has sometimes been asserted that judgment of an actor 
cannot be wise and impartial unless it separates the artist 
from the man — that the less you know about the nature of 
the actor himself, the better are you fitted to analyze and 
estimate his art. But this is a mistaken doctrine. The beau- 
ties of an actor's art are technical only up to a certain point. 
Riding, swimming, skating, fencing, playing whist, playing 
chess — these, and all such arts as these, are to be viewed 
simply and solely with reference to method. Acting is a far 
greater art, involving much more than clearness of design, 
competent force, precision of touch, and grace of execution. 
The informing vitality and the crowning charm of an actor's 
art reside in attributes that flow out of an actor's spiritual 
nature ; and the true excellence of the one is clearly seen and 
rightly appreciated only by those observers who can see into 
the constitution and resources of the other. Every truth that 
can be discerned as to the soul of the actor helps such an 
observer more justly to comprehend and more deeply to feel 
the power and the loveliness of his work. Superficial knowl- 
edge of surroundings and habiliments is not denoted as essen- 
tial, although, to some extent, this also may help. The vital 
thing is a deep and true perception of the soul. The more 
you know about the actor in this sense, the better are you 
qualified to estimate his acting. In fact, unless you know 



41G LEADERS OF MEN. 

him in this way, you can know his acting merely as mech- 
anism. 

In the case of Mr. Jefferson, the man and the actor are so 
inextricably blended that in any disquisition upon his art. it 
is well-nigh impossible to dissever them. This comedian, 
indeed, has completely and accurately assumed many differ- 
ent identities ; few actors have equaled him in abundance of 
the resources of technical skill ; but the felicitous precision, 
the truth to nature, with which he has portrayed these identi- 
ties, and the magical charm, whether of grace, humor, ten- 
derness, eccentricity, or genius, with which he has suffused 
them, arise out of attributes in the spiritual constitution of 
the man himself, and are not referable to his dramatic art. 

Mr. Jefferson comes of a theatrical lineage in both branches 
of his ancestry. The Jefferson family of actors was founded 
by Thomas Jefferson, born about the year 1728, a native of 
the township of Ripon, Yorkshire, England, who went up to 
London, probably in 1746, when a youth of about eighteen, 
became a member of Garrick's company at Drury Lane The- 
ater, and subsequently had a career of about sixty years on 
the English stage. Old dramatic records give but meager 
information about this actor, but he seems to have attained to 
a good position. He was esteemed the equal, in comedy, of 
so fine an actor as Spranger Barry, and the superior, in this 
field, of Mossop, Reddish, and the elder Sheridan. His tragic 
performances, if less meritorious, were accounted to be equal 
to those of Macklin, the first true Shylock of the English 
theater. He is mentioned as "Garrick's favorite Horatio." 
He was even accepted sometimes as a substitute for that bril- 
liant genius ; and in one of the accounts of him that were 
published immediately after his death — which occurred in 
2807 — he is described as "the friend, contemporary, and 
exact prototype of the immortal Garrick." 

Thomas Jefferson was on the stage from 1746 till almost 
the day of his death. He managed theaters in England 
at Richmond, Exeter, Plymouth, and other cities, but chiefly 
at Plymouth. His career might be told in much more detail, 
and with the picture of the whole brilliant Garrick period 
as a background, although, of course, Thomas Jefferson 
was not, and should not be made, the chief figure in that 
resplendent picture. But he lived in a remarkably dramatic 



JOSEPH JEFFERSOX. 417 

era, and he was associated with many of the finest intellects, 
the loveliest faces, and the brightest reputations of the 
eighteenth century. 

Joseph Jefferson, second in the Jefferson family of actors, 
was born at Plymouth, England, in 1774 or 1776. There is 
some uncertainty as to the date of his birth. He was care- 
fully educated for the stage, and he appeared at the Plymouth 
theater while yet a youth, under his father's direction. As 
soon as he had attained to manhood, however, he emigrated 
to America, and he never returned to his native land. He 
came over in 1795, under engagement to Charles Stuart Powell, 
first manager of the theater in Federal street, Boston — a 
house that was opened on February 3, 1794. Powell agreed 
to pay the young actor's passage, and a salary of seventeen 
dollars a week. 

On reaching Boston, Jefferson found that Powell had been 
unfortunate, and had been obliged to shut the theater (June 
19, 1795). Left thus adrift, he engaged with Hallam and 
Hodgkinson, who were on a professional visit to Boston, from 
the John Street Theater, New York, and with those managers 
he performed at Boston. Providence, and Hartford, and finally 
came to the metropolis. His first appearance in New York 
was made on February 10, 1790. at the theater in John street, 
and the part he played was Squire Richard, in The Provoked 
Husband. He was of small stature, slight in figure, well 
formed, and graceful. He had a Grecian nose, and his eyes 
were blue and full of laughter. The John Street Theater, 
precursor to the old Park, was first opened December 7, 1707, 
and it was finally closed on January 13, 1798. Jefferson was 
connected with it for nearly the whole period of its last two 
years, and when it closed he went to the Park, at first styled 
'"The New Theater," or simply ''The Theater." Jefferson's 
career at the Park Theater extended through five regular 
seasons, ending in the spring of 1803, when he accepted an 
engagement with Mrs. Wignell, who just then had succeeded, 
by the sudden death of her husband, to the management of 
the Chestnut Street Theater, in Philadelphia. 

The detailed story of the rest of his life would be the 
story of that theater. There he developed his powers, there 
he accomplished his best work, and there he acquired his 
great fame. Making allowance for the differences existent 



418 LEADERS OF MEN. 

between the conditions of publicity in those days and in ours, 
he had a career as prominent, though not as well known, as 
that of his famous grandson, and in much the same spirit he 
was honored and beloved. His rank and position were 
much the same as those in the present day of Mr. John Gil- 
bert. He had the friendship of President Jefferson, and the 
two were of opinion that they had sprung from the same 
stock; but the relationship was never traced. The President 
was of Welsh extraction, the comedian of English. It is 
recorded of Jefferson and his wife that they were born on the 
same day of the same month and year, one in America and 
the other in England. They had nine children, all but two 
of whom adopted the stage. 

Jefferson was a man of sweet but formal character and 
polished, punctilious manners, of absolute integrity, and of 
pure and exemplary life. As an actor he was remarkable 
for nature and variety. It is said he never twice gave a 
scene in precisely the same manner. His humor was involun- 
tary and exceedingly fascinating. He never used grimace. 
He may be traced through more than two hundred charac- 
ters. ''He played everything that was comic," said John P. 
Kennedy, the novelist, "and always made people laugh till 
the tears came in their eyes. . . . When he acted, families 
all went together, old and young. Smiles were on every 
face; the town was happy." The latter days of his life were 
sorely overwhelmed with calamity and sorrow. He died in 
Harrisburg in 1832. 

The third Jefferson, father of our comedian, was born in 
Philadelphia in 1804. He was a man of most serene and 
gentle nature, and of simple, blameless life. He was an 
inveterate quiz, a good scene-painter, and a good actor of old 
men ; but he did not make an important figure on the stage. 

The maternal ancestry of our present representative Amer- 
ican comedian, Joseph Jefferson, is also dramatic, his mother 
having adopted the stage when a child, and subsequently 
risen to distinction as an actress, and to special eminence as 
a singer. This lady was the only child of a French gentle- 
man, M. Thomas, resident for some time at San Domingo, 
from which place, however, he fled with his wife and daughter, 
the latter then only three or four years of age. at the time of 
the second revolt of the negroes against the French govern- 



JOSEPH JEFFERSON. 419 

ment in 1803, when a massacre of the white population was 
ordered, and to some extent accomplished, by those fierce 
insurgents. The refugees liad a narrow escape. One of M. 
Thomas's slaves, more faithful than the rest to his master's 
fortunes, gave information of the intended slaughter, so that 
the planter was enabled just in time to make his escape. The 
fugitives decamped by night, and hid themselves among 
dense thickets adjacent to their home. The house was pil- 
laged and burned and the whole place was devastated. Jeffer- 
son remembers having heard his mother speak of this 
experience, saying that, although then only a child, she could 
recollect something of the fright and horror of the time — the 
concealment by night, the warning not to utter a sound, the 
suspense, the cries of the negroes as they went about beating 
the bushes in their murderous quest, which proved in vain. 
Fortunately the child did not cry, and M. Thomas, with his 
living treasures, at length got safely away from the island. 

Joseph Jefferson, the fourth of this distinguished family, 
was born at Philadelphia on February 20, 1829. The home of 
his birth is still standing at the southwest corner of Spruce 
and Sixth streets. He was reared by theatrical parents and 
among theatrical friends and the surroundings of the theater, 
and he was embarked upon his theatrical career while yet a 
little child. His first appearance upon the stage was made in 
1833, when he was only four years old, at a theater in Wash- 
ington. The negro comedian Thomas D. Rice (1808-60), once 
and for a long time known and popular as "Jim Crow," car- 
ried him on in a bag or basket, and at a certain point, while 
singing the song of "Jim Crow," emptied from it this young- 
ster, blackened and " made up " as a facsimile of himself, 
who immediately struck the attitude of Rice, and danced and 
sung in exact imitation of the long, lank, ungainly, humorous 
original. Four years later this lad was at the Franklin 
Theater in New York, with his parents, and he appeared 
there on September 30, that year, in a sword combat with one 
Master Titus, whom it was his business to discomfit, and over 
whom he triumphed in good old bravado manner. 

Early in 1838 young Jefferson was taken to Chicago, 
together with his half-brother, Charles Burke, and both of 
them were there kept in continual practice on the stage. The 
whole family, indeed, went wandering into the West and 



420 LEADERS OF HEX. 

South, and many and varied were the adventures through 
which they passed, earning a precarious livelihood by the 
practice of an art almost unrecognized as yet in those 
regions. 

A glimpse of Jefferson as he appeared in the early days of 
his professional career, which were also the early days of the 
American theater, more particularly in the West, was afforded 
at a meeting of the Historical Society of Chicago, at which 
the veteran theatrical manager, Mr. James H. McVickar, 
read a paper descriptive of the origin and growth of the 
theater in that city. The first entertainment for which an 
admission fee was charged in Chicago occurred in 1834. The 
first theater there was established in 1837, by Henry Isher- 
wood and Alexander McKenzie. It stood on the southeast 
corner of Lake and Market streets. Isherwood is remembered 
as long a scenic artist at AVallack's Theater, a man of 
signal talent and of interesting character. Mr. McVickar 
expatiated agreeably upon these and kindred details, and 
read this letter from the comedian : — 

"I am not quite sure that I remember dates and circum- 
stances in their exact form, but will give you the benefit of 
all I know relating to Chicago theatricals. My father and his 
family arrived in Chicago by way of the lakes in a steamer, 
somewhere about May. in the year 1838. He came to join 
Alexander McKenzie (my uncle) in the management of his new 
theater. McKenzie had been manager of the old one the season 
before. I think the new theater was the old one refitted. 
[This is an error.] I know it was the pride of the city and 
the ideal of the new managers, for it had one tier of boxes and 
a gallery at the back. I don't think that the seats of the dress 
circle were stuffed, but I am almost sure that they were 
planed. The company consisted of William Leicester, William 
Warren, James Wright, Charles Burke, Joseph Jefferson. 
Thomas Sankey, William Childs, H. Isherwood (artist), 
Joseph Jefferson, Jun., Mrs. McKenzie, Mrs. J. Jefferson 
(my mother), Mrs. Ingersoll, and Jane Germon. I was the 
comic singer of this party, making myself useful in 
small parts and first villagers, now and then doing duty as a 
Roman senator, at the back, wrapped in a clean hotel sheet, 
with my head just peering over the profile banquet tables. 
I was just nine years old. I was found useful as Albert and 



JOSEPH JEFFERSON. 421 

Duke of York. In those days the audience used to throw 
money on the stage, either for comic songs or dances ; and 
oh, with that thoughtful prudence which has characterized 
my after-life, how I used to lengthen out the verses ! The 
stars during the season were Mrs. McClure, Dan Marble, and 
A. A. Addams. Some of the plays acted were Lady of Lyons, 
Stranger, Rob Roy, Damon and Pythias, Wives as They 
Were — Aids as They Are, Sam Patch, etc. The theater was 
in Randolph street — at least it strikes me that was the name. 
[It was in Dearborn street.] The city about that time had 
from three to four thousand inhabitants. I can remember 
following my father along the shore, when he went shooting, 
on what is now Michigan avenue. 

"JOSEPH JEFFERSON." 

During the progress of the Mexican war the Jeffersons 
followed, in company with other players, in the track of 
General Taylor's army, giving performances to please a 
military and boisterous audience. Those were the rough and 
wild days of the American provincial theater. Readers of 
such records as Ludlow"s "Dramatic Life"' and Sol Smith's 
"Reminiscences" may therein catch impressive glimpses of 
this period in our theatrical history, and they will find it 
recorded that the pioneers of the profession in the West often 
had to pursue their journeys in flatboats down the great 
rivers, from town to town, living on fish and birds, sometimes 
shooting wild animals on the river banks, and stopping at 
intervals to act in the settlements. Land journeys were 
frequently made by the poor player in wagons or ox carts, 
and sometimes he traveled on foot. Jefferson had experi- 
ence of all these itinerant methods, and so it was in the 
school of hardship that he acquired his thorough profes- 
sional training. 

He saw General Taylor on the banks of the Rio Grande. 
He was sufficiently near at the battle of Palo Alto, May 8, 
184G, to hear the report of the cannon. He saw the bombard- 
ment of Matamoras, and he acted in that city, in the Spanish 
theater, two nights after the capture of the place by the 
American forces. At one time in the course of this gypsy 
period, he was so "hard up" that he was constrained to 
diversify the avocation of acting by opening a coffee and cake 



422 LEADERS OF MEN. 

stall, as one of the camp followers of General Taylor. But 
when adverting to this incident, in a talk with the present 
writer, he indicated what has been the law of his life and the 
secret of his success in all things. " I sold good coffee and 
good cakes," he said, " and the little stall was not a failure." 

Jefferson did not return to the New York stage until 1849, 
when, on September 10, he came out at Chanfrau's National 
Theater, acting Jack Rackbottle, in the play of Jonathan 
Bradford. Here he met Miss Margaret Lockyer, a native of 
Burnham, Somersetshire, England, to whom subsequently 
(May 19, 1850,) he was married. 

From 1849 onward, he drifted about the country during 
several years. At one time he was in partnership with Mr. 
John Ellsler, now a prominent manager and admired come- 
dian at Cleveland, and together they took a dramatic com- 
pany through the chief cities of the Southern states. At 
another time he was settled in Philadelphia, and later in Bal- 
timore. In the latter city he was allied with that eminent 
manager, since so intimately associated with some of the 
brightest and saddest pages of American theatrical history, 
Mr. John T. Ford ; and Jefferson was there the manager of 
the Baltimore Museum. In 1856 he made a summer trip to 
Europe, in order to observe and study the art of acting as 
exemplified on the stage in London and Paris. A poor man 
then, but then, as always, devoted to his art as to a sacred 
religion, he could face hardship and endure trouble and pain 
for the accomplishment of a high purpose ; one of the ocean 
voyages he made in the steerage of a packet. 

But all things come round, at last, to those who wait, 
making ready to improve opportunity when it arrives, and 
Jefferson's time came in good season, after much privation 
and many disappointments. On August 31, 1857, Laura Keene 
opened her theater in New York at No. 622 Broadway, and 
her company included Jefferson, who on the first night made 
a hit as Dr. Pangloss, in The Heir at Law. But it was not till 
the 18th of October following, when for the first time on any 
stage was presented Tom Taylor's comedy of Our American 
Cousin, that Jefferson gained his first permanent laurel, and 
established himself in the judicious thought and the popular 
favor of his time as a great comedian. This victory was 
obtained by his matchless performance of Asa Trenchard. 



JOSEPH JEFFERSON. 423 

The piece had a run of one hundred and forty nights. Soth- 
ern was in the cast as Lord Dundreary, and that was the 
beginning of the almost world-wide success afterward gained 
by him. Jefferson remained at Laura Keene's Theater till 
July, 1859, when the season ended. 

He was a member of Mr. Boucicault's company and stage 
manager of the Winter Garden Theater — on the west side of 
Broadway, opposite to the end of Bond street — in the season 
of 1859-60, but he withdrew from that theater in the spring of 
1860, and on May 16 opened Laura Keene's Theater for a sum- 
mer season, which lasted till August 31. There he presented 
The Invincible Prince, The Tycoon, Our American Cousin, and 
other plays with a company that included Edward A. Sothern, 
Charles W. Couldock, Mrs. John Wood, Mrs. Henrietta Chan- 
frau, Cornelia Jefferson (his only sister), Mrs. H. Vincent, 
Hetty Warren, James H. Stoddart, and James G. Burnett. 
That part of Jefferson's professional life is particularly well 
remembered. The performances then given were of singular 
brilliancy, and the foundations of his own reputation were at 
that time securely laid. Early in 1861 he had the afflicting 
misfortune to lose his wife, who died suddenly, and thereafter 
he fell into infirm health, so that for some time his own death 
seemed imminent ; but a trip across the continent to San 
Francisco, a voyage thence to Australia, and the good influ- 
ence of the climate of that country, where he passed four 
years, restored him to hope and vigor. He was married again, 
in 1867, to his third cousin, Miss Sarah Warren, of Chicago. 

In Australia Mr. Jefferson increased his reputation by the 
excellence of his professional efforts. He there acted Asa 
Trenchard, Caleb Plummer, Bob Brierly, Dogberry, and other 
characters, and especially Rip Van Winkle. His popularity 
in that country was prodigious. Once, at Hobart Town, in 
Tasmania, among a people whom the late Henry J. Byron 
used to call the Tasmaniacs, he acted Bob Brierly, the rustic 
hero of Tom Taylor's play of The Ticket-of-leave Man, in 
presence of about six hundred ticket-of-leave men, and this 
formidable concourse of capable critics, at first hostile, ended 
by accepting him with delighted acclamation. 

He visited the Pacific coast of South America and the 
Isthmus of Panama on leaving Australia, and from the latter 
place he went directly to London, where he induced Mr. 



424 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Boucicault to rearrange and rewrite the play of Rip Van 
Winkle, and where he came out, giving his exquisite per- 
formance of Rip, in September, 1865, at the Adelphi Theater. 
"In Mr. Jefferson's hands," wrote John Oxenford, of the 
London Times, "the character of Rip Van Winkle becomes 
the vehicle for an extremely fine psychological exhibition." 
The comedian's success was great, and it prepared the way 
for great and continuous triumph upon the American stage 
after he came home. Jefferson reappeared in New York, 
August 13, 18G6, at the Olympic Theater, and afterward trav- 
ersed the principal cities of the republic, being everywhere 
received with intellectual appreciation and the admiring plau- 
dits of the public. He has since then made another visit to 
the English capital, acting in London and in other cities of 
the British Isles. He reappeared at the Princess's Theater 
November 1, 1875, and acted until April 29, 1876. He appeared 
at the same theater at Easter, 1877, and remained there until 
midsummer, when he went to the Haymarket with Mr. John 
S. Clarke, and acted for several weeks Mr. Golightly, in Lend 
Me Five Shillings, and Hugh De Brass, in A Regular Fix. He 
arrived home that year on October 17, and all his engagements 
since then have been played in America. His repertory 
has been confined to Rip Van Winkle, Caleb Plummer, Mr. 
Golightly, Bob Acres, and occasionally Dr. Ollapod. 

Of late years Jefferson has acted but a small part of each 
season, preferring to live mostly at home and devote his atten- 
tion to the art of painting. All his life an amateur in water- 
colors, he developed some years ago not only an ardent 
passion, but a remarkable talent, for oil painting in the depart- 
ment of landscape. Several of his works have been exhibited. 
Many of them are suffused with a mysterious and tender 
charm of feeling, much like the imaginative quality in the 
paintings of Corot. In this field Jefferson has accomplished 
more than society is aware of, and more than perhaps his con- 
temporaries will consent to recognize. No man must succeed 
in more than one art if he would satisfy the standard of the 
age in which he lives. 

Mr. Jefferson's power has been exerted and his position 
has been gained chiefly by means of the performance of Rip 
Van Winkle. In his time, indeed, he has played many parts. 
More than a hundred of them could be mentioned, and in 



JOSEPH JEFFERSON. 425 

several of them his acting has been so fine that he would have 
been recognized with admiration even though he had never 
played Rip Van Winkle at all. It is, accordingly, either 
ignorance or injustice that describes him as "a one-part 
actor." Yet, certainly he has obtained his fame and influence 
mainly by acting one part. This fact has been noticed by 
various observers in various moods. " I am glad to see you 
making your fortune, Mr. Jefferson/' the late Mr. Charles 
Mathews said to him, "but I don't like to see you doing it 
with a carpetbag." Mr. Mathews was obliged to play many 
parts, and therefore to travel about the world with manv 
trunks full of wardrobe, whereas the blue shirt, the old leather 
jacket, the red-brown breeches, the stained leggings, the old 
shoes, the torn red and white silk handerchief, the tattered 
old hat, the guns and bottle, and the two wigs for Rip Van 
Winkle can be carried in a single box. The remark of Mr. 
Mathews, however, was meant to glance at the "one-part" 
costume, and Mr. Jefferson's reply to this ebullition was at 
once good humored and significant. " It is perhaps better," 
he said, " to play one part in different ways than to play many 
parts all in one way." The explanation of his artistic 
victory is indicated here. Mr. Jefferson found in the old play 
of Rip Van Winkle a subject with reference to which he 
could freely and fully express not only his own human nature 
at its highest and best but his ideas as to human nature and 
human life in general. 

The part of Rip. indeed, as set forth in the pages of Wash- 
ington Irving and in the ancient and clumsy play which Jef- 
ferson derived from his half-brother, Charles Burke, amounts 
to nothing ; but the part as Mr. Jefferson conceived it and 
built it up amounts to an epitome of human life, and in that 
respect it is one of the most valuable parts in the range of 
the acting drama. Mr. Jefferson was exceedingly fond of it 
while yet he was a youth, and long before the arrival of that 
happy time when he was privileged to attempt it on the stage. 
It was his custom to dress himself as Rip Van Winkle and to 
act the part alone in his lodgings, and for his own edification 
and the purposes of study and experiment, years before he 
acted it in public. His mind instinctively recognized its 
value. It is a part that contains all of the great extremes of 
human experience — youth and age, mirth and sadness, humor 



426 LEADERS OF MEN. 

and pathos, loss and gain, the natural and the supernatural 
man in his relations to his fellow men, and man in his rela- 
tion to the world of spirits. It is domestic without insipidity, 
and it is romantic without extravagance. In a remote way it 
is even suggestive of " the sceptered pall of tragedy." Yet it 
is perfectly simple, and it is sweet, pure, and deeply and 
richly fraught with the sympathetic emotion of powerful and 
tender humanity. 

HOW TO BE INSIGNIFICANT. 

HE world is full of insignificant people. They are born, 
they go to school, they work, they eat, they sleep, they 
"X" talk — rather frivolously, they live — very aimlessly, 
and one day they die, and the world is not much the 
poorer because of their disappearance. A few men struggle 
to the front, rise beyond the humdrum level of the crowd, and 
make their voices heard above the common clamor. But as 
for the rest, they are insignificant. Why ? Because it is the 
easiest thing in the world. 

Probably the surest way to be insignificant is to inherit 
wealth. It is generally the greatest possible curse for a man 
to begin life in opulence. It ties his hands, lowers his ambi- 
tion, and narrows his sympathies. He is fettered by fashion, 
and bound tightly by the conventional prejudices of society. 
He will not succeed in journalism, for he cannot bend his back 
to begin with the daily drudgery. He will hardly consent to 
soil his hands in trade ; and as for science and art, why should 
he endure the long toil and severe training of the student 
when he can occupy the pleasurable position of the patron ? 
Except in a few remarkable cases, the young man who enters 
on life's tragedy to the music of jingling gold plays an insig- 
nificant part, far from danger, and therefore far from honor. 
My brother, be extremely thankful if you are thrown entirely 
on your own resources. Many of the men who have won the 
highest success in commerce and science and art, many of the 
boldest reformers, most brilliant writers, and most forceful 
orators, have been men who commenced life without a penny 
in their pockets. One of the best men I have ever known once 
thoughtlessly sneered at a young journalist because he lacked 
the supposed advantage of a college education. He did not 
know that the successful journalists in the city of London this 




JOSEPH JEFFERSON AS "BOB ACRES.' 



HOW TO BE INSIGNIFICANT. 429 

day who can put B.A. after their names can be comfortably 
counted on the fingers of one hand. The smartest journalist 
in that city to-day had no schooling after he reached twelve 
years of age, except what he gained by his own unaided 
efforts. It may seem the strangest paradox, but it is never- 
theless a simple, undeniable fact, that poverty is often one of 
the greatest blessings a man can have in beginning his career. 
It nerves him for the battle, it hinders self-indulgence, and is 
a sure preventive of laziness. 

Another certain method of acquiring insignificance is a 
love of ease. " Anything for a quiet life " is the motto which 
has ruined the prospects of thousands. The man who is con- 
tent to exist — the man who says that work is an excellent 
thing, and he would rather enjoy a short spell of it, but he 
feels that "to work between meals is not good for the diges- 
tion," — that man will always be miserably small and con- 
temptibly insignificant. You have got to climb the ladder of 
life — there is no elevator to take you up. There are prizes to 
be had, but you must win them — they will not drop into your 
hands. Do you wish to avoid insignificance and rise to some 
nobler height of work and character and attainment ? Then 
you must be ready not only to take opportunities, but to make 
them. You must be strenuous in effort, dogged in persever- 
ance, indomitable in courage, and cheerful and alert in mind. 
When Cromwell was asked to postpone an enterprise and 
" wait till the iron was hot," he bravely replied that he would 
make the iron hot by striking it. That is the dauntless spirit 
we want to-day — the spirit which laughs at difficulty, and is 
not to be turned aside from its ambition by all the amiable 
warnings of prudence or timidity. There is one hymn which 
is sometimes sung at revival meetings — we do not hear it 
often now. It begins — 

" Oh, to be nothing, nothing." 

Now, if that is your ambition, you can easily gratify it. 
Nothingness is soon achieved. But surely no young man 
with a healthy mind and a Christlike spirit will be deceived 
by this hideous mockery and caricature of true humility. To 
want to be nothing is an insult to the God who made you. 
Was it worth while bringing you into the world to whine and 
cant about being nothing ? Rouse yourself and think ! God 



430 LEADERS OF MEN. 

has surrounded you with a wealth of privileges and an infin- 
itude of priceless blessings. You inherit all the wisdom and 
genius and benevolence of the ages — riches that are vast, 
golden, immortal. You are placed within reach of the noblest 
possibilities ; you have all the help and advantage which 
come of dwelling in a Christian and civilized land ; you live 
in an age when the zeal and ardor and strength of young men 
are greatly in demand, and when the opportunities for useful- 
ness are singularly favorable ; and yet in the meanest, laziest, 
most spiritless fashion you ask to be '•nothing, nothing.'' 
Give up, once for all, this cowardly and characterless whim- 
pering. Be something. Be a man ! Shake off your dull sloth 
and rise to a nobler life. Do you murmur about the fierce and 
relentless competition ? There is no competition at the top. 
The crowd is at the bottom ; but look ahead, battle forward, 
fight your way against every difficulty, valiantly overcome 
every obstacle, and by the time you have climbed halfway to 
success you will find that the throng which once pressed 
around you begins to thin and disappear. And when by skill 
and industry, faith and fortitude, pluck and perseverance, 
you have attained the height you set your young heart on 
reaching, you will discover # that there is no competition there 
— you will then be able to dictate your own terms, and claim 
the adequate reward of honest, skillful, earnest work. 

Yet another most fruitful cause of insignificance is what 
I should call " time-frittering.'' Some months ago several of 
the most prominent ministers in New York were persuaded 
to give their views on " The Best Use of Leisure " for the 
guidance of young men. I am not sure that there is any 
topic of much greater importance than this, for you can gen- 
erally tell the character of a man with almost infallible 
accuracy, by the way in which he uses his leisure hours. 
Time-frittering is undoubtedly the besetting sin of the young 
men to-day. Thousands of fellows turn with horror from 
actual dissipation. But their virtue is of a negative and 
therefore of a very worthless kind. They abstain from evil, 
but they never do any good. The worst and most costly 
extravagance of which you can be guilty is to throw away 
your evenings. They are golden opportunities for which you 
are responsible, and of which you should make the best and 
highest use. One of the most popular of our writers and ora- 



HOW TO BE INSIGNIFICANT. 431 

tors was once asked how he managed to get through such a 
prodigious amount of work. "Simply by organizing my 
time," he replied. It is by this invaluable habit of organizing 
your leisure hours that you will be able to " wrest from life 
its uses and gather from life its beauty." It is wonderful 
what may be accomplished by devoting the evenings to some 
useful study or helpful recreation. Earnest and persistent 
students have learned several languages in the odd hours of a 
busy career. Never be afraid of giving up one or two nights 
a week to your books. " Knowledge is power " all the world 
over, and what you learn will be sure to come in useful one 
day. It is an old saying, but I may repeat it with advantage, 
that "Time-wasting in youth is one of the mistakes which 
are beyond correction." 

One more path to insignificance must be mentioned — the 
loss of a good name. A blasted reputation will carry you into 
nothingness at express speed. Lose your character, and men 
will drop you with stinging promptitude, and you will sink 
into the lowest depths of insignificance. Scarcely anybody 
will want to know you — nobody will employ you, and only a 
few Christlike souls will be ready to lend you a helping hand. 
We are too apt to read the Bible nowadays as if it were an old- 
world story, which has no bearing on the practical matters of 
everyday business. But has it never struck you that "a 
good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," even as 
a worldly investment ? Punctuality, concentration of effort, 
ceaseless energy, and many other qualifications, will help a 
man forward ; but, possessing all these, he may yet be a 
miserable failure if he has not a good name. Character 
stands for a good deal, even in these days of fraud and deceit. 
A band of thieves will want an honest treasurer, and men 
who are themselves full of trickery will appreciate a sturdy, 
honest character in others. The young man whose word can- 
not be relied upon, whose honesty is not beyond suspicion, 
and whose personal life is not clean, will search in vain for a 
position in the business world to-day. Be careful that you 
never lose your good name. It may take you ten or twenty 
years to gain a high and spotless reputation, but you can 
easily destroy it in ten minutes ; and a man who has once 
proved himself unworthy to be trusted will find it an almost 
hopeless task to win back confidence and regard. He may 



432 • LEADERS OF MEN. 

even possess influence, and family position, and hosts of 
friends ; but the way upward will be hard and thorny, because 
he once surrendered his reputation. Be on your guard, be 
watchful and vigilant ; " let him that thinketh he standeth 
take heed lest he fall.'" Count your good name as a possession 
above price, and, by the strong help of your Father God, 
never permit it to be soiled or sullied. Honesty is better 
than brilliancy ; purity and uprightness are greater than dash 
and cleverness. 






CHAPTER XXL 

JOHN HEYL VINCENT. 



ON SUCCESS WHAT HE REPRESENTS BIRTH AND EARLY ENVIRON- 
MENT — HIS AMBITIONS TO GO TO COLLEGE -r IN PENNSYLVANIA AT 

SCHOOL AS A TEACHER ENTERS THE MINISTRY SOME EARLY CHAR- 
ACTERISTICS CAREER IN THE WEST AS AN EDITOR SECRETARY OF 

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION FURTHER EDUCATION FIRST IDENTIFICA- 
TION WITH CHAUTAUQUA SOME CHAUTAUQUA RESULTS PRESIDENT GAR- 

FIELD'S TRIBUTE LITERARY WORK — HOME LIFE — SERMONS LOYALTY. 

SELF-EDUCATION. 

During my early ministerial life I conceived a plan, reach- 
ing through the years, by which, in connection with profes- 
sional duties, I might turn my whole life into 
a college course, and by force of personal 
resolve secure many benefits of college 
education. I remembered that the college 
aims to promote, through force of personal 
resolve, the systematic training of all the 
mental faculties to the habit of concentrated 
and continuous attention, that the mind, 
with its varied energies, may be trained, 
and thus prepared to do its best work, sub- 
ject to the direction of the will ; that it 
cultivates the powers of oral and written expression ; tnat it 
encourages fellowships and competitions among students 
seeking the same end ; that it secures the influence of profes- 
sional specialists — great teachers who know how to inspire 
and to quicken other minds ; and that it gives to a man broad 
surveys of the fields of learning, discovering relations, indi- 
cating the lines of special research for those whose peculiar 
aptitudes are developed by college discipline, thus giving one 
a sense of his own littleness in the presence of the vast realm 
of truth exposed to view, so that he may find out with La 
Place that "what we know here is very little ; what we are 
ignorant of is immense." 

The task before me was to secure these results to as large 




434 LEADERS OF MEN. 

a degree as possible : mental discipline, in order to assure 
intellectual achievement, practice in expression, contact with 
living- students and living teachers, and the broad outlook 
which the college curriculum guarantees. This aim, there- 
fore, for years controlled my professional and non-professional 
studies. It was constantly present in sermonizing, in teach- 
ing, in general reading, in pastoral visitation, in contact 
deliberately sought with the ablest men and women — spe- 
cialists, scientists, litterateurs, — whom I could find, especially 
those who had gone through college or who had taught in 
college. I secured, from time to time, special, teachers in 
Greek, in Hebrew, in French, in physical science, giving what 
time I could to preparation and recitation. I read with care 
translations of Homer and Virgil, outlines of the leading- 
Greek and Latin classics, and, in connection with an exceed- 
ingly busy professional life, devoted much time to popular 
readings in science and English literature. When thirty years 
old I went abroad, and spent a year, chiefly for the sake of 
coming into personal contact with the Old World of history 
and literature, and found double pleasure in the pilgrimage 
because I made it a part of my college training. In Egypt 
and Palestine, in Greece and Italy, I felt the spell of the old 
sages, writers, artists, and was glad to find that the readings 
of my youth and of my later manhood greatly helped me to 
appreciate the regions I visited, and the remains in art and 
architecture which I was permitted to study. 



^JfyLjut/H ' @-z*^-&*~jcl. 



HE only real and lasting addition a man makes to the 
world's stock of truth is empirical — that which he 
finds out in the course of his practical living. Self- 
truths, self-discoveries, are the only vital ones. In 
substance they may be what other men have found and told 
— told better, perhaps, than another can ever expect to do it ; 
but in their power to inspire and move, they are unique. They 
have an originality, a genuineness, a force of reproduction, 
which lies only in things born of individual experience and 
pain and effort. 

There are few men whose public work illustrates this 



JOHN HEYL VINCENT. 435 

more clearly than that of the Right Reverend Bishop John 
H. Vincent. 

In Central New York, fourteen hundred feet above the 
sea. is a beautiful sheet of water, twenty miles long, bordered 
by rich green foliage which covers the surrounding hills. 
Pretty villages dot the shore, and a score of steamers give 
life to the charming landscape. The Indians called the lake 
Juduqua, which in time became Chautauqua. On the west 
bank, in the midst of one hundred and fifty acres laid out in 
parks, walks and drives, is the "People's University," with 
its great auditorium for six thousand persons, its museums, 
schools of language, and hall of philosophy . Every year 
nearly one hundred thousand people gather there, some to 
study literature, some art, and some the sciences, to listen 
to lectures and to music, enjoying nature the while, and 
gaining health and rest with knowledge. 

Who was it laid this successful plan for the culture, not of 
one town, nor of one city, but of a continent ? Two friends, 
one of whom was John H. Vincent. 

In Tuscaloosa, Ala., the land of orange blossoms and 
magnolia groves, John Heyl Vincent was born, February 23, 
1832, a descendant from the noble Huguenots of France. His 
father was a man of character, a great reader, an admirable 
talker, highly conscientious and devoting his best energies to 
the careful education of his children. The mother was a 
woman of singular beauty of nature, patient, amiable, living 
as though she belonged to Heaven rather than earth. Her 
father, Captain Bernard Raser, of Philadelphia, who died at 
Batavia, Java, on one of his voyages, was a man of elegant 
and refined manners, which his daughter inherited. This 
grace of behavior, coupled with the grace of a sunny, self- 
sacrificing life, made Mary Vincent the idol of the com- 
munity. Often at the twilight hour, especially on Sundays, 
after the family circle had joined in prayer and singing, she 
would take her children to her own room, and there sweetly 
and tenderly tell them about the life to come, and point out 
plainly their faults and spiritual needs. The noble yet some- 
what stern type of character in the father commanded honor 
and respect ; the gentle winsomeness of the mother won 
enthusiastic love. 

The eldest child who survived infancy, John, with a fine 



436 LEA DEES OF MEN. 

physique and impulsive nature, would naturally have inclined 
to the boisterous sports characteristic of boyhood, and to ath- 
letic feats, but this early training made him serious and reflect- 
ive. Before he was six years old he would gather the colored 
children of his fathers place and of the neighborhood, and 
then, while with a whip he insured their sitting still, he 
preached the gospel to them. How much good such preach- 
ing did them, it would be difficult to say. His eagerness for 
the performance of public service in due form went so far 
that on one occasion he tore in pieces a valued red morocco 
hymn book,— the gift to him of his pastor,— giving each of 
his congregation a few leaves. He forgot the reception he 
would surely have from his father, when he had finished these 
services and brought away the dismembered hymn book, for 
Mr. Vincent, senior, did not "spare the rod and spoil the 
child." 

The lad seems early to have had conceptions of the value 
of a college education, for when three years old, with a little 
next-door neighbor, now the wife of Bishop Hargrave of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church South, he walked a mile to the 
University of Alabama, where the aspiring couple were 
picked up by one of the professors, an intimate friend of the 
families, and taken care of until a servant arrived in quest of 
the runaways. 

The family moved North in 1838 and settled near Milton, 
Pa , where the father purchased a large farm, and built a 
mill on the Chillisquaque creek, which empties into the 
Susquehanna a few miles above Northumberland. Here, 
when our young public speaker was between thirteen and 
fourteen, we find him at a play missionary meeting one after- 
noon ; the schoolhouse was full of children, and some one 
suggested it become a temperance meeting. John was asked 
to make a speech, which he did for three quarters of an hour, 
and it is said there was great fun and enthusiasm, and quite 
likely some of the fun was at the young orator's expense. 

Under a governess he fitted for and entered Milton Acad- 
emy. An eager reader, before he was fifteen he had read 
many of the standard works in his father's library : Addison's 
Essays, Rollin's History, Gibbon's Rome, Pitkin's Civil and 
Political History of the United States, Pilgrim's Progress, 
Shakespeare, Burns, Young, Pollock, and such biographies as 



JOHN HEYL VINCENT. 43? 

the Lives of John and Charles Wesley and John and Mary- 
Fletcher. The simplicity and beauty of Addison's style 
delighted him, while the story of the Wesleys was an inspira- 
tion to a youth who believed he should do something in his 
life, too, for the good of the world. This faith, this resolve, 
were doubtless both shaped and strengthened by the society 
of the ministers and other educated people who shared the 
hospitality of the Vincent home. Here no denomination was 
unwelcome, and young John Vincent, though a Methodist in 
belief, grew to manhood with a Christian love broader than 
any sect and wider than any section. 

At fifteen he was asked to teach a country school near his 
father's house. Desiring work, and believing that he should 
enjoy teaching, he accepted, and performed his newly chosen 
duties with great enjoyment. The next year he took charge 
of another school, and later still taught on the Juniata, some 
distance away. This was his first genuine absence from 
home. He dreaded the going. The time came at last for him 
to start at midnight. The dear mother tried to make the 
home even brighter and cheerier than usual. The house was 
gayly lighted, the younger children sat up till the tired eyes 
. could keep open no longer, there was smiling cheer on every 
hand. "Do not cry when I am leaving,"' John had said to 
his mother ; but when the hour came, with pale face, and 
with tears on her cheeks that could not be kept back, she put 
her arms about him, but she could only say, ''My son, live 
near to God ; live near to God." The boy of sixteen went out 
into the world with these words ever before him in letters of 
fire. 

So early as this the genial bents of the educator asserted 
their strength. One of the schoolhouses in which he taught 
was on the edge of a grove, and there he constructed rustic 
seats for his pupils, where on every pleasant day the school 
studied out of doors — a miniature Chautauqua. 

During four years of teaching he had continued his own 
studies, and finally registered at Allegheny College, Mead- 
ville, Pa. It of course had required unusual will and per- 
severance to teach all day, to hear private pupils in the 
evening, and at the same time to study so systematically as 
to be ready for college. He must have been tired often, often 
like other boys longed for recreation and freedom, but he 



438 LEADERS OF MEN. 

never lost sight of his aim or let go his hold of his self- 
appointed task. 

But now came an unexpected turn of plan. Having joined 
the church when a Sunday school scholar, he hoped some time 
to become a preacher. " Why not enter the ministry at 
once ? " argued some clergymen who were friends of the 
family. "The world needs to be saved, and there is no time 
to be lost." Young Vincent knew, yet not so well as a man 
knows it in later life, how necessary is a college training for 
one who has resolved to become a leader of thought ; yet he 
was anxious to be at his work as soon as possible. After 
some debate he took the advice of these unwise counselors, 
abandoning his plan for immediate collegiate education, and 
at twenty years of age, on horseback with a pair of saddle- 
bags, started out to preach, on a thirty-mile circuit, over the 
mountains, and through the valleys of Luzerne county, Pa. 
Sometimes he developed his sermons as he rode, often for 
miles without a single house in sight, speaking to the echoing 
forests ; sometimes he read Dante, and Comte's Philosophy, 
and committed to memory portions of Campbell's Pleasures of 
Hope. Wherever he stopped the people gave him welcome, 
for he was interested in their home life and in all their plans. 
Children were glad when his bright face was seen in their 
midst. He never shook hands with the tips of his fingers, 
nor preached dry sermons. 

He usually spoke three times each Sunday, and so eloquent 
was he that he was sometimes called the "Young Summer- 
field," after the brilliant preacher who died in New York in 
1825, only twenty-seven years of age. 

The fame of the boy-preacher grew apace in the limited 
circle of his earliest ministry, but he was not spoiled by the 
praise, for his discreet father had told him that as he had 
great facility of speech, he must be careful not to confound 
ideas with words, nor think because he could talk easily that 
he was edifying people. "Many young ministers are spoiled 
by praise," he had said to his son, " and you must compare 
your efforts with the best standards, and try to feel how great 
is the contrast between these and your own thought and 
expression." 

About this time the precious mother, whose pride and 
delight in her son gave zest to his life, died, to the great grief 



JOHN HEYL VINCENT. 439 

of all who knew her. Says a well-known minister: "She 
was one of the loveliest Christian women I ever knew. Noth- 
ing seemed ever to disturb the equanimity of her spirit, or 
displace the smile from her countenance. Her death was a 
personal bereavement to hundreds beyond her own family 
and kindred.'' Her children have often said, " We never 
once knew her to speak a quick or impatient word." 

Life seemed now more serious than ever to young Vincent. 
He spent a year at the Wesleyan Institute of Newark, having 
joined the New Jersey Conference in 1858. Says Rev. George 
H. Whitney, D.D., president of the Centenary Collegiate Insti- 
tute at Hackettstown, N. J., who was at this time secretary 
of the Newark Institute : — 

" Tall, slender, graceful, genial, with a kind and intellec- 
tual face, with abundant brown hair, but beardless, I was 
struck with his manly appearance. We became fast friends. 
At that early age he showed a mastery in controlling places, 
people, and the dozen minor pulpits under his control ; always 
mild in manner, strong in purpose, and equal to the occasion. 
After school he usually walked with me for one or two hours. 
It was his custom to commit to memory many stanzas and 
couplets of poetry of wide range, repeat them as we walked, 
and challenge me to equal him if I could. Daily, in our 
walks, he would say, ' Give me a text, and let me analyze 
it.' Quick as a flash he would produce first, second, third, 
finally, and ask me to criticise it. I have never met his equal 
in analytic power. He was full of sparkle and cheer as now. 
All said, ' I see in this young man elements of future great- 
ness.' Yet he was always modest and unassuming; true, 
pure, and noble. He was a fine speaker in those days, and 
popular everywhere." . 

He became pastor, for two years, at North Belville, N. J., 
and for the following two years at Irvington. It was now, 
not satisfied with pulpit work alone, that he developed an 
educational plan. Every Saturday afternoon pastor and peo- 
ple came together, imagining themselves a band of tourists in 
Palestine. Bible history and geography were studied. Every 
scholar was personally examined, and as he or she had made 
progress, was promoted by grades to " Pilgrim," " Explorer," 
"Dweller in Jerusalem," and "Templar." During a later 
pastorate, where a similar class had been organized, the 



440 LEADERS OF MEN. 

pastor wrote weekly letters for the village paper, and so 
graphic and interesting were they that many believed there 
was an actual excursion. Meantime he had pursued the four 
years' course of theological study required by his church. 

His father having moved to Chicago to take charge of 
large business interests, young Vincent was naturally drawn 
to the West, where he preached several years in Northern 
Illinois. In Joliet, Mt. Morris, Galena and Rockford, the 
Saturday afternoon Palestine classes were crowded by old 
and young, and from all denominations. 

Although so busy and engrossed, he was not too busy to 
fall in love ; but he wisely waited till he was old enough to be 
certain what kind of wife he wanted. When he was nearly 
twenty-seven, he married Elizabeth Dusenbury, from western 
New York, whose father was a Presbyterian elder, honored 
and beloved by everybody. The daughter had a fine mind, 
unusual strength of character, and good judgment, with a 
delicate sense of propriety and steadiness of purpose. Well 
may Doctor Vincent say, "I owe more to my wife than to 
any other human being save my mother." Into his plans she 
entered heartily, and became a counselor and helper. Four 
years after his marriage he spent a year in Europe, traveling 
over Egypt and Palestine, thoughtfully surveying those 
countries which he had taught thousands to love. He 
returned home refreshed, to enter upon still wider activities. 
He had always been deeply interested in Sabbath school work. 
"How could he reach the children of America so that they 
would love Bible study, and how help the teachers to make 
this study interesting ? " He decided to start a paper devoted 
to that end. This was the Northwestern Sunday School 
Quarterly. He had before that organized the first Sunday 
school institute in the country, and a little later, in 1866, he 
originated and edited the Chicago Teacher, from which has 
come the International Lesson System now used among 
Protestants throughout the world. 

He was now only thirty-four, yet the foremost leader in 
Sunday School work. He was made agent of the Sunday School 
Union of Chicago, and a little later the Secretary of the Sunday 
School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which 
position, for the fifth term, of four years each, he was elected. 
The mother's prayers and beautiful life were surely having 



JOHN HEYL VINCENT. 441 

their influence in the Christian energy and patient, far-reach- 
ing power of her eloquent son. 

When appointed to the secretaryship, he removed to Plain- 
field. N. J., where his home became a center of social and 
intellectual activity. Says a leading clergyman • — 

"Doctor Vincent preached in the Presbyterian, Congrega- 
tionalist, Baptist, and other churches in Plainfield, many 
times. His name crowds any church on any occasion, in a 
hard rain or a hot night, and this has lasted for sixteen years ! 
Doctor Vincent has few peers in the American pulpit. He is 
a princely preacher. " 

All these years he had recognized, for himself as well as 
for others, the necessity of collegiate education. Though his 
hands were full of work, he had continued his studies alone, 
carefully taking up higher mathematics, science, metaphysics, 
and classics, till he had mastered the college course, receiving 
his A. B. degree after a regular examination. 

The absorbing question with him then became, " How can 
the great world catch the ' college outlook ' ? " He reflected 
that few of the vast number can afford the means. Tens of 
thousands are too busy earning their daily bread. 

What seemed a grave mistake in his early life — the neglect 
to secure a college training — in his treatment of it become a 
blessing to the world. "Some way must be opened for old 
and young to become educated,"' resolved the earnest minis- 
ter ; but still it was not opened for some years. 

In 1874, Mr. Lewis Miller, of Akron, Ohio, a wealthy and 
generous man who loved Sunday schools, suggested the idea 
of a large gathering at Chautauqua, where Christian people 
could enjoy lecture, science, literature, and theology. The 
plan was perfected ; Mr. Miller was made President, and Doc- 
tor Vincent Superintendent of Instruction. The place soon 
attracted large numbers of visitors and has been the parent 
of all other Sunday school assemblies. 

Four years later, while Doctor Vincent was crossing the 
ocean homeward, after a resting time at the foot of the Alps, 
the old idea of a College Reading Course for the people was 
matured. Doctor Vincent calculated that by reading at least 
one hour a day, for four years, as long a time as many tired 
fathers and mothers could spare, a fair knowledge of litera- 
ture, history, and science could be obtained. But would the 



442 LEADERS OF MEN. 

people of this country take hold of the idea ? Time would 
tell. He laid the plan before President Warren of Boston 
University, Doctor Howard Crosby, Doctor J. G. Holland, 
William Cullen Bryant, and others, and all gave it their hearty 
indorsement. 

On August 10, 1878, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific 
Circle (C. L. S. C.) was inaugurated at Chautauqua in the 
huge tent where the amphitheater now stands, and more 
than seven hundred joined at once. A college president was 
the first to give his name. The class of the first year num- 
bered eight thousand people, and the demand for the needed 
books exhausted the entire stock of the publishers on the 
first day. Ah, yes, the people were anxious to learn ! 

A circle with three hundred members was formed at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, one with five hundred at Pittsburg. Letters came 
from all over the country. One wrote : — 

" I am so grateful to you that I can't express what I feel. I 
am a hard working man. I have six children, and I work 
hard to keep them in school. Since I found out about your 
Circle I am trying my best to keep up so that my boys will see 
what father does, just for an example to them." 

Another : — 

" I am a night watchman, and I read as I come on my night 
rounds to the lights." 

A Mississippi captain wrote that the course was of value 
to him, " because," he says, " when I stand on deck stormy 
nights, I have something to think about." 

President Garfield, not forgetting how he had hungered for 
an education, studying his open book as he drove the mules 
along the tedious path by the Erie Canal, spoke earnestly 
before the assembled thousands at Chautauqua, urging the 
value of this plan of study : — 

" You are struggling with one of the two great problems of 
civilization. The first one is a very old struggle ; it is, ' How 
shall we get leisure ? ' That is the problem of every hammer 
stroke, of every blow that labor has struck since the founda- 
tion of the world. The fight for bread is the first great primal 
fight, and it is so absorbing a struggle that until one conquers 
it somewhat, he can have no leisure 'whatever. So that we 
may divide the whole struggle of the human race into two 
chapters — first, the fight to get leisure ; and then comes the 



JOHN HEYL VINCENT. 443 

second fight of civilization, What shall we do with our leisure 
when we get it ? And I take it that Chautauqua has assailed 
this second problem. Now, leisure is a dreadfully bad thing 
unless it is well used. A man with a fortune ready made, and 
with leisure on his hands, is likely to get sick of the world, sick 
of himself, tired of life, and become a useless, wasted man. 
What shall you do with your leisure ? I understand that 
Chautauqua is trying to answer that question and to open out 
fields of thought, to open out energies, a largeness of mind, 
a culture in the better sense, with the varnish scratched off, 
as Brother Kirkwood says. We are getting over the business 
of varnishing our native woods and painting them. We are 
getting down to the real grain, and finding whatever is best 
in it, and truest in it ; and if Chautauqua is helping to garnish 
our people with the native stuff that is in them, rather than 
the paint and varnish and gewgaws of culture, it is doing 
well." 

The delightful work goes on, always making new channels 
and always broadening all its old ways. Thousands of per- 
sons are studying the Chautauqua course, several hundreds of 
these in Canada, and some in India, South Africa, Japan, and 
the Sandwich Islands. One half of the required readings for 
the members are published in the Chautauqitan, the organ of 
the movement. Many lesser Chautauquas have been organ- 
ized in various states. 

Out of this work has grown the Chautauqua University, 
chartered by the state of New York, conducted by well-known 
professors through written examinations. The "Young Sum- 
merfield," who rode over his mountain circuit in Pennsylva-, 
nia at twenty, has become its chancellor, known and honored 
throughout America. Still he has found time for other labors, 
as those know who have listened to his lectures on Reading, 
The Model Husband, Egypt and the Pyramids, That Boy, 
That Boy's Sister, Sidney Smith, The Witty Dean, The Every 
Day College, etc. : he has written a manual of Bible history 
and geography, entitled, "Little Footprints in Bible Lands," 
a volume on the Church school, small books on Sunday school 
work, and several text-books for the Chautauqua course ; and 
he has spoken at innumerable famous gatherings, like the 
Sunday school centenary at Guildhall, London, and preached 
in such far-off places as Jerusalem and Damascus. One 



444 LEADERS OF MEN. 

secret, I think, of his remarkable success is that his enthu- 
siasm and sympathy never fail. His humor, his genial face, 
his magnetic manner, his sunny outlook, his confidence in 
work to achieve anything and everything for a man, make 
him the idol of his audiences, while his energy, his own 
capacity for endless work, and his executive power fit him for 
this leadership. 

Another secret is, that while the detail of his varied labor 
is something unparalleled, his home life is joyous and 
refreshing. 

The Vincent home is like the father's, in the early days, 
most hospitable. Dr. Vincent and his only son — a professor 
of great promise in the University of Chicago — are like 
brothers, counseling together. He once said, "My boy is my 
only 'pet.' I like birds — in the free air of heaven. I like 
dogs— in my neighbor's yard. I like cats— in pictures and 
at somebody's else fireside. I like horses — when somebody 
else drives them." Another secret is that both in his study, 
and on the wing, Dr. Vincent is a great reader, marking his 
books, and re-reading the things he likes. He says : "I get 
strength, breadth, out of general reading, and put them into 
my work. The best service of a book to me is not the ideas I 
get out of it, but the force intellectual, and the breadth I can 
use in producing my own ideas and plans.*' He has the 
excellent and orderly habit of jotting down random thoughts, 
always having a memorandum-book with him while riding on 
the cars, or in his office, and at night often makes note of a 
fugitive thought, caught and caged while flitting through 
his mind. A good talker himself, he makes it a matter of 
duty to draw people out on a subject, not for the sake of argu- 
ment, but that he may modify his own views, or get a better 
chance to modify theirs. Some of his best sermons have grown 
out of stirring conversations with people, especially skeptics, 
or those holding different views from himself. 

Another secret is that he is a careful worker, depending 
upon both accuracy and finish, often re-writing the outline of 
a sermon a dozen times, always maturing each detail of a 
plan. 

In this grand work going on so noiselessly and so closely 
all around us that we can 'hardly get the "distance"' from 
which to survey its noble outlines, its projector may some- 




BISHOP JOHN H. VINCENT. 



SELF-ED VGA TION. 44? 

times feel fatigue, but exhaustion never. It yields him, as 
all work of pure beneficence always does, new ideas, new 
aims, new hopes for the advancement of the people. Does it 
yield him dollars ? some one asks. No ; he receives no salary 
from Chautauqua. His reward, his "support" comes in con- 
sciousness of the love of thousands, in the consciousness of 
the " lift " Chautauqua has given to the family life of the peo- 
ple and the better "start" thus secured for the sons and 
daughters of these happier homes. 

Another characteristic which he has shown in his various 
institutions is his loyalty to the persons who first understood 
him and allied themselves with his work. Not that he has 
sacrificed the good of the work to keep individuals in place. 
He has been able to inspire individuals to keep pace with the 
progress made, and to train up a corps of co-workers so 
devoted and intelligent that the Sunday school and Chau- 
tauqua institutions originating with him are independent of 
him. He only is a great organizer who does his work so 
that it can stand without him. 

SELF-EDUCATION. 

DUCATION is the harmonious development of all our 
faculties. It begins in the nursery, and goes on at 
school, but does not end there. It continues through 
life, whether we will or not. The only question is whether 
what we learn in after life is wisely chosen or picked up hap- 
hazard. "Every person," says Gibbon, " has two educations, 
one which he receives from others, and one more important, 
which he gives himself." 

What we teach ourselves must indeed always be more use- 
ful than what we learn of others. " Nobody," said Locke, 
"ever went far in knowledge, or became eminent in any of 
the sciences, by the discipline and restraint of a master." 

You cannot, even if you would, keep your heart empty, 
swept, and garnished ; the only question is whether you will 
prepare it for good or evil. 

Those who have not distinguished themselves at school 
need not on that account be discouraged. The greatest minds 
do not necessarily ripen the quickest. If, indeed, you have 
not taken pains, then, though I will not say that you should 
be discouraged, still you should be ashamed ; but if you have 



448 LEADERS OF MEN. 

done your best, you have only to persevere ; and many of 
those who have never been able to distinguish themselves at 
school have been very successful in after life. We are told 
that Wellington and Napoleon were both dull boys, and the 
same is said to have been the case with Sir Isaac Newton, 
Dean Swift, Chve, Sir Walter Scott, Sheridan, Burns, and 
many other eminent men. 

Evidently then it does not follow that those who have dis- 
tinguished themselves least at school have benefited least. 

Genius has been described as " an infinite capacity for tak- 
ing pains," which is not very far from the truth. As Lilly 
quaintly says, " If Nature plays not her part, in vain is 
Labour ; yet if Studie be not employed, in vain is Nature. ** 

On the other hand, many brilliant and clever boys, for 
want of health, industry, or character, have unfortunately 
been failures in after life, as Goethe said, " like plants which 
bear double flowers but no fruit *' ; and have sunk to driving 
a cab, shearing sheep in Australia, or writing for a bare sub- 
sistence ; while the comparatively slow but industrious and 
high-principled boys have steadily risen and filled honorable 
positions with credit to themselves and advantage to their 
country. 

Doubts as to the value of education have in some cases 
arisen, as Dr. Arnold says, from "that strange confusion 
between ignorance and innocence with which many people 
seem to solace themselves. Whereas, if you take away a 
man's knowledge, you do not bring him to the state of an 
infant, but to that of a brute ; and of one of the most mis- 
chievous and malignant of the brute creation," for, as he 
points out elsewhere, if men neglect that which should be the 
guide of their lives, they became the slaves of their passions, 
and are left with the evils of both ages — the ignorance of the 
child and the vices of the man 

No one whose education was well started at school would 
let it stop. It is a very low view of education to suppose that 
we should study merely to serve a paltry convenience, that 
we should confine it to what the Germans call "bread and 
butter " studies. 

The object of a wise education is, in the words of Solo- 
mon : — 






SELF-EDUCATION. 449 

" To know wisdom and instruction ; 

To perceive the words of understanding ; 

To receive the instruction of wisdom, 

Justice, and judgment, and eauity ; 

To give subtlety to the simple, 

To the young man knowledge and discretion." 

A man, says Thoreau, " will go considerably out of his 
way to pick up a silver dollar ; but here are golden words, 
which the wisest men of antiquity have uttered, and whose 
worth the wise of every succeeding age have assured us of."' 

A sad French proverb says, " Si jeunesse savait, si viellesse 
pouvait " ; and a wise education will tend to provide us with 
both requisites, with knowledge in youth and strength in age. 
'"Experience," said Franklin, "is a dear school, but fools will 
learn in no other." 

It is half the battle to make a good start in life. 

" Train up a child in the way he should go ; 
And when he is old he will not depart from it." 

Begin well, and it will be easier and easier as you go on. 
On the other hand, if you make a false start it is far from 
easy to retrieve your position. It is difficult to learn, but still 
more difficult to unlearn. 

Try to fix in your mind what is best in books, in men. in 
ideas, and in institutions. We need not be ashamed if others 
know more than we do ; but we ought to be ashamed if we 
have hot learned all we can. 

Education does not consist merely in studying languages 
and learning a number of facts. It is something very differ- 
ent from, and higher than, mere instruction. Instruction 
stores up for future use, but education sows seed which will 
bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some one hundred fold. 

" Wisdom is the principal tiling ; therefore get wisdom : 
And with all thy getting, get understanding." 

Knowledge is admittedly very inferior to wisdom, but yet 
I must say that she has sometimes received very scant justice. 
We are told, for instance, that 

" Knowledge is proud that she has learnt so much ; 
Wisdom is humble that she knows no more." 



450 LEADERS OF MEN. 

But this is not so. Those who have learned most are best 
able to realize how little they know. 

. Even Bishop Butler tells us that " men of deep research 
and curious inquiry should just be put in mind, not to mistake 
what they are doing. If their discoveries serve the cause of 
virtue and religion, in the way of proof, motive to practice, or 
assistance in it ; or if they tend to render life less unhappy, 
and promote its satisfactions ; then they are most usefully 
employed : but bringing things to light, alone and of itself, is 
of no manner of use, any otherwise than as an entertain- 
ment or diversion.'' 

It has again been unjustly said that knowledge is 

" A rude and unprofitable mass, 
The mere materials from which wisdom builds." 

He would be a poor architect, however, who was careless in 
the choice of materials, and no one can say what the effect of 
" bringing things to light " may be. Many steps in knowl- 
edge, which at the time seemed practically useless, have 
proved most valuable. 

Knowledge is power. " Knowledge of the electric telegraph 
saves time ; knowledge of writing saves human speech and 
locomotion ; knowledge of domestic economy saves income*; 
knowledge of sanitary laws saves health and life ; knowl- 
edge of the laws of the intellect saves wear and tear of 
brain ; and knowledge of the laws of the Spirit — what does 
.it not save ? " 

"For direct self-preservation,'* says Herbert Spencer, "or 
the maintenance of life and health, the all-important knowl- 
edge is — Science ; for that indirect self-preservation which 
we call gaining a livelihood, the knowledge of greatest value 
is — Science. For the due discharge of parental functions, 
the proper guidance is to be found only in — Science. For 
that interpretation of national life, past and present, without 
which the citizen cannot rightly regulate his conduct, the 
indispensable key is — Science. Alike for the most perfect 
production and highest enjoyment of Art in all its forms, the 
needful preparation is still — Science. And for the purpose of 
discipline — intellectual, moral, religious — the most efficient 
study is, once more — Science." 

"When I look back," says Dr. Fitch, " on my own life, and 



SELF-EDUCATION. 451 

think on the long past school and college days, I know well 
that there is not a fact in history, not a formula in mathe- 
matics, not a rule in grammar, not a sweet and pleasant verse 
of poetry, not a truth in science which I ever learned, which 
has not come to me over and over again in the most unex- 
pected ways, and proved to be of greater use than I could 
ever have believed. It has helped me to understand better 
the books I read, the history of events which are occurring 
round me, and to make the whole outlook of life larger and 
more interesting." 

Lastly, let us quote Dean Stanley. " Pure love of truth," 
he says, " how very rare and yet how beneficent ! We do not 
see its merits at once : we do not perceive, perhaps, in this or 
the next generation, how widely happiness is increased in the 
world by the discoveries of men of science, who have pursued 
them simply and solely because they were attracted towards 
them by their single-minded love of what was true." Well 
then may Solomon say that 

" A wise man will hear, and will increase learning." 

There is hardly any piece of information which will not 
come in useful, hardly anything which is not worth seeing at 
least once. There are in reality no little things, only little 
minds. 

"Knowledge is like the mystic ladder in the Patriarch's 
dream. Its base rests on the primeval earth — its crest is 
lost in the shadowy splendor of the empyrean ; while the 
great authors who for traditionary ages have held the chain 
of science and philosophy, of poesy and erudition, are the 
angels ascending and descending the sacred scale, and main- 
taining, as it were, the communication between earth and 
heaven." 

It is sad, however, to remember in how many cases the 
authors of great discoveries are unknown ; sad, not on their 
account, but because we should wish to remember them with 
gratitude. Great discoverers have seldom worked for them- 
selves, or for the sake of fame. 

" For Truth with tireless zeal they sought ; 
In joyless paths they trod : 
Heedless of praise or blame they wrought, 
And left the rest to God. 



452 LEADERS OF MEN. 

" But though their names no poet wove 
In deathless song or story, 
Their record is inscribed above ; 

Their wreaths are crowns of glory." 

Attention and application to your studies are absolutely 
necessary to the enjoyment of life. If you give only half 
your mind to what you are doing, it will cost you twice as 
much labor. 

It is sad to think how little intellectual enjoyment had 
yet added to the happiness of man, and yet the very word 
"school" meant originally rest or enjoyment. It is most 
important, says Mr. J. Morley, " both for happiness and for 
duty, that we should habitually live with wise thoughts and 
right feelings.*' 

The brain of man should be 

" The Dome of thought, the Palace of the Soul." 

Says Donne, 

" We are but farmers of ourselves, yet may, 
If we can stock ourselves and thrive, uplay 
Much good treasure for the great rent day." 

There is much in the creed of Positivists with which I can- 
not agree, but they have a noble motto — " L' amour pour 
principe, Vordre pour base, et le progres pour but." 

There are, however, says Emerson, many "innocent men 
who worship God after the tradition of their fathers, but 
whose sense of duty has not extended to the use of all their 
faculties." 

Man measures everything by himself. The greatest moun- 
tain heights, and the depth of the ocean, in feet; our very 
system of arithmetical notation is founded on the number of 
our fingers. And yet what poor creatures we are ! What 
poor creatures we are, and how great we might be . What is 
a man ? and what is a man not ? 

A man, says Pascal, is "res cogitahs, id est dubitans, affir- 
mans, negens, pauca intelligens, mult a ignorans, volens, nolens, 
imaginans, etiam, et 8611116118." 

Man, he says elsewhere, " is but a reed, the feeblest thing 
in Nature : but he is a reed that thinks (un roseau pensant). 
It needs not that the universe arm itself to crush him. An 



SELF-EDUCATION. 453 

exhalation, a drop of water, suffices to destroy him. But 
were the universe to crush him, man is yet nobler than the 
universe, for he knows that he dies ; and the universe, even 
in prevailing against him, knows not its power." 

What qualities are essential for the perfecting of a human 
being ? A cool head, a warm heart, a sound judgment, and 
a healthy body. Without a cool head we are apt to form 
hasty conclusions, without a warm heart we are sure to be 
selfish, without a sound body we can do but little, while even 
the best intentions without sound judgment may do more 
harm than good. 

If we wish to praise a friend we say he is a perfect gentle- 
man. " What is it to be a gentleman ? " asked Thackeray, "is 
it to be honest, to be gentle, to be brave, to be wise ; and, pos- 
sessing all these qualities, to exercise them in the most grace- 
ful outward manner ?" " A gentleman," he adds, " is a rarer 
thing than some of us think for." Kings can give titles, but 
they cannot make gentlemen. We can all, however, be 
noble if we choose. 

"That man," says Archdeacon Farrar, " approaches most 
nearly to such perfection as is attainable in human life whose 
body has been kept in vigorous health by temperance, sober- 
ness, and chastity ; whose mind is a rich storehouse of the 
wisdom learned both from experience and from the noblest 
thoughts which his fellow men have uttered ; whose imagina- 
tion is a picture gallery of all things pure and beautiful ; 
whose conscience is at peace with itself, with God, and with 
all the world, and in whose spirit the Divine Spirit finds a 
fitting temple wherein to dwell." 

The true method of self-education, says John Stuart Mill, 
is "to question all things; never to turn away from any 
difficulty ; to accept no doctrine either from ourselves or from 
other people without a rigid scrutiny by negative criticism ; 
letting no fallacy or incoherence or confusion of thought 
step by unperceived ; above all, to insist upon having the 
meaning of a word clearly understood before using it, and the 
meaning of a proposition before assenting to it : — these are 
the lessons we learn." And these lessons we might all learn. 

In the earlier stages of education at any rate all men might 
be equal : neither rank nor wealth give any substantial 
advantage. Sir W. Jones said of himself that with the for- 



454 LEADERS OF MEN. 

tune of a peasant, he gave himself the education of a prince. 
It was long ago remarked that there was no royal road to 
learning ; or rather perhaps it might more truly be said that 
all roads are royal. And how great is the prize ! Education 
lights up the history of the world and makes it one bright 
path of progress ; it enables us to appreciate the literature of 
the world; it opens for us the book of Nature, and creates 
sources of interest wherever we find ourselves. 

And if we cannot hope that it should ever be said of us 
that 

" He was a man, take him for all in all 
I shall not look upon his like again," 

it might at any rate be true that 

" He hath a daily beauty in his life," 

for have we not all immortal longings in us ? 

If education has not been in all cases successful, this has 
been the fault not of education itself, but of the spirit in 
which it has been often undertaken. " For men have entered 
into a desire of learning and knowledge sometimes upon a 
natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite, sometimes to enter- 
tain their minds with variety and delight, sometimes for orna- 
ment and reputation, but seldom sincerely to give a true 
account of their gift of reason to the benefit and use of men. 
As if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to 
rest a searching and restless spirit ; or a terrace for a wander- 
ing and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair 
prospect ; or a tower of state for a proud mind to rest itself 
upon ; or a fort or commanding ground for strife and conten- 
tion ; or a shop of profit or sale, and not a rich storehouse for 
the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 



A POKTIC INTERPRETATION OF SUCCESS BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD 

A PICTURE OF HIS CHILDHOOD EARLY THEATRICAL LEANINGS — A 

PRACTICAL JOKER SCHOOL DAYS THE " LEONAINIE " EPISODE PER- 
SONAL APPEARANCE PREEMINENT QUALITIES OF HIS WORK — IN WHAT 

HIS UNIQUENESS LIES" "POEMS HERE AT HOME" — -THE TWO CLASSES 

OF MR. RILEY'S POETRY AS A BALLADIST HIS LYRICS THE POET OF 

THE PEOPLE CHARACTERISTICALLY AMERICAN. PERSONAL PURITY AND 

NOBILITY. 



" What is my idea of success?" — 



Just to be good — this is enough — enough I 
O we who find sin's billows wild and rough 
])o we not feel how much more than any gold 
Would be the blameless life we led of old 
While yet our lips knew but a mother's kiss? 
Ah ! though we miss all else but this, 

To be good is enough ! 

It is enough — enough — just to be good ! 
To lift our hearts where they are understood ; 
To let the thirst for worldly power and place 
Go unappeased ; to smile back in God's face 
With the glad lips our mothers used to kiss. 
Ah ! though we miss all else but this, 

To be good is enough ! 



I believe a man prays when he does well. I believe he 
worships God when his work is on a high plane. When his 
attitude towards his fellow men is right, I guess God is 
pleased with him. 




^ ^»>ww> YtwOoQrwIfcTJTOii,; 



456 LEADERS OF MEN. 

AMES WHITCOMB RILEY, the " Hoosier Poet," was 
born at Greenfield, Indiana, and there, too, spent the years 
of his boyhood. His father was an attorney of some prom- 
inence, and a genius in mechanics, having the ability to 
imitate in construction almost anything that can be made with 
hands — a trait which his son inherits as a mental, though not 
manual, characteristic. The father was impatient to see his 
son, of whom he was very fond, in masculine attire ; and long 
before the child had reached the age when the pinafore is 
usually discarded, determined to gratify this desire. He 
therefore bought the small amount of material necessary, and 
himself cut and made for the coming poet and humorist a 
wonderful suit. It consisted of trousers reaching to the feet, 
and a coat of the "shad-belly" variety, adorned with the 
bright brass buttons then in fashion for gentlemen. 

At that age the child's hair was almost as white as wool, 
and his face was covered with freckles of generous size and 
pronounced color. He was chubby, and the grotesqueness of 
this ensemble must have twanged a sympathetic chord in his 
infantile breast. When attired in his new suit he bore a 
striking resemblance in miniature to Judge Wick, a ponderous 
jurist and politician prominent in that section and throughout 
the West at that time. The similarity of initials as well as of 
person suggested the whim to the rustic wits, and Judge 
Wick became his nickname and remained with him after he 
had reached his teens, and then, it may be said, became his 
nom de guerre, for by that name he fought and conquered in 
his more mature boyhood. He was his father's constant com- 
panion, and on county court days no end of merriment was 
aroused when a conjunction of these two unique personages 
with judicial titles forced a comparison and provoked the 
risibles of the dullest. When the business of litigation was 
on, the boy was left to his own devices. Perched in some 
obscure niche or window,' he imitated every movement of the 
court, lawyers and witnesses, and there his studies of dialect 
and human nature of the Hoosier variety were made, to be 
reproduced on the platform and in print in later years. 

As he grew older he took part in boy-theatricals, and 
always as the " star." His preference was for portrait-paint- 
ing as a vocation, but sign-painting offered a more quickly 
remunerative field, and to this he turned his attention for 



JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. 457 

a while. He even descended to lettering on fences, and the 
highways of Hancock and adjoining counties were pictur- 
esque with the results of his genius. This became monotonous, 
and he again turned his attention to the stage. He joined a 
strolling company and became its genius. Finding his lines 
faulty or unsuitable, he rewrote them, and sometimes recast the 
entire play — abridging, brightening, or throwing into prom- 
inence unique characters as his ideas of consistency demanded. 
At one time he attached himself to a combination in which 
the payment of salaries depended on the amount of patent 
medicines sold between acts. The stage was a large wagon 
drawn by horses gayly caparisoned. On this was mounted a 
large blackboard, on which sketches in black and white were 
displayed. Riley was artist, orator, and musician in turn, 
drawing illustrations and caricatures of persons in the motley 
audience, lauding the virtues of his wares, improvising addi- 
tional verses to a song, or playing accompaniments on violin 
or guitar, and joining in the chorus. It was a happy, vaga- 
bond life, a rebound from the repression of his earlier years. 
It made him familiar with his kind, and enriched his dialect 
vocabulary and his studies of human nature from life. 

During his sign-painting career he sometimes posed as 
" the celebrated blind sign-painter." Pretending to be stone 
blind, he bewildered the crowds which collected to watch him 
work. Mr. Riley was continually playing practical jokes. 
Perhaps the most ludicrous was one he played on the Metho- 
dist church congregation of his native town. The story is 
told by a relative of the poet that this church needed repair- 
ing badly, and a committee went about soliciting aid. Mr. 
Riley, who was handy at any kind of work, could not help in 
a financial way, but volunteered to repair the church clock. 
The committee consented. Just before the reopening of the 
church he brought the clock back and carefully hung it in its 
accustomed place high on the wall over the pulpit. At eleven 
o'clock, when the minister was warming to his subject, the 
old clock began striking. It struck fifteen, twenty, thirty, 
forty, fifty, sixty, and kept on striking. The minister stopped. 
The clock did not. It was far out of reach and no ladder was 
near. The congregation had to be dismissed. 

He rarely attended school with any degree of regularity, 
but he learned much from his father, and seemed to absorb 



458 LEADERS OF MEN. 

knowledge without effort. From early boyhood his thoughts 
fell into line in rhythm. Even his first crude rhyming was 
not deficient in this respect. His poems are thought out as 
he travels or walks the street, and when their time is fully 
come he gives them birth regardless of surroundings — at an 
office desk in the hum of business, in the waiting room of a 
railway station, on the corner of a busy editor's table, or 
seated on a low stool with his manuscript on his knees — it is 
all one to him. At other times he is very sensitive to sur- 
roundings. His reading has taken a wide range, but has been 
somewhat discursive, and he has been restrained from thor- 
ough study of any model through fear that his strong imita- 
tive bent might mar his originality of expression. In response 
to the challenge of a friend, he once wrote what professed to 
be a newly discovered manuscript poem of the late Edgar 
Allan Poe, entitled " Leonainie,'' and so perfect was his work 
that so capable a judge as William Cullen Bryant pronounced 
it genuine and criticised it at some length as such. When 
this unknown Western upstart declared himself the author of 
it, he was denounced as a would-be plagiarist. 

Mr. Riley is a short man with square shoulders and a large 
head. He has a very dignified manner at times. His face 
is smoothly shaven and, though he is not bald, the light color 
of his hair makes him seem so. His eyes are gray and round 
and generally solemn and sometimes stern. His face is the 
face of a great actor — in rest, grim and inscrutable ; in 
action, full of the most elusive expression capable of humor 
and pathos. Like most humorists he is sad in repose. His 
language when he chooses to have it so is wonderfully con- 
cise, penetrating, and beautiful. He drops often into dialect 
but always with a look on his face which shows that he is 
aware of what he is doing. In other words, he is himself in 
both forms of speech. His mouth is his wonderful feature, 
wide, flexible, clean cut. His lips are capable of the grimmest 
and merriest lines. He has lips that pout like a child's or 
draw down into the straight grim line like a New England 
deacon's, or close at one side and uncover his white and even 
teeth at the other in the style, slightly, of "Benjamin F. 
Johnson," the humble humorist and philosopher. In his 
own proper person he is full of quaint and beautiful phi- 
losophy. He is wise rather than learned, — wise with the 



JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. 459 

quality that is in the Proverbs, — almost always touched with 
humor. 

Even if Mr. Riley's poetry — which, along with his prose, 
now has been brought out in a beautiful uniform edition — had 
no claim to distinction in itself, the fact of its unrivaled pop- 
ularity would challenge consideration. But, fortunately, his 
work does not depend on so frail a tenure of fame as the vogue 
of a season or the life of a fad. The qualities which secure for it 
a wider reading and a heartier appreciation than are accorded 
to any other living American poet are rooted deep in human 
nature ; they are preeminently qualities of wholesomeness 
and common sense, those qualities of steady and conservative 
cheerfulness which ennoble the average man, and in which 
the man of exceptional culture is too often lacking. Its 
lovers are the ingenuous home-keeping hearts, on whose 
sobriety and humor the national character is based. And yet, 
one has not said enough when one says it is poetry of the 
domestic affections, poetry of sentiment ; for it is much more 
than that. 

Poetry which is free from the unhappy spirit of the age, 
free from dejection, from doubt, from material cynicism, 
neither tainted by the mould of sensuality nor wasted by the 
maggot of " reform," is no common product, in these days. 
So much of our art and literature is ruined by self-conscious- 
ness, running to the artificial and the tawdry. It is the slave 
either of commercialism, imitative, ornate, and insufferably 
tiresome, or of didacticism, irresponsible and dull. But Mr. 
Riley at his best is both original and sane. He seems to have 
accomplished that most difficult feat, the devotion of one's 
self to an art without any deterioration of health. He is full 
of the sweetest vitality, the soundest merriment. His verse 
is not strained with an overburden of philosophy, on the one 
hand, nor debauched with maudlin sentimentalism, on the 
other. Its robust gayety has all the fascination of artlessness 
and youth. It neither argues, nor stimulates, nor denounces, 
nor exhorts ; it only touches and entertains us. And, after all, 
few things are more humanizing than innocent amusement. 

It is because of this quality of abundant good nature, 
familiar, serene, homely, that it seems to me no exaggeration 
to call Mr. Riley the typical American poet of the day. True, 
he does not represent the cultivated and academic classes ; he 



460 LEADERS OF M EN. 

reflects nothing of modern thought ; but in his unruffled tem- 
per and dry humor, occasionally flippant on the surface, but 
never facetious at heart, he might stand very well for the 
normal American character in his view of life and his palpable 
enjoyment of it. Most foreign critics are on the lookout for 
the appearance of something novel and unconventional from 
America, forgetting that the laws of art do not change with 
longitude. They seize now on this writer, now on that, as 
the eminent product of democracy. But there is nothing 
unconventional about Mr. Riley. " He is like folks,'' as an old 
New England farmer said of Whittier. And if the typical 
poet of democracy in America is to be the man who most 
nearly represents average humanity throughout the length 
and breadth of this country, who most completely expresses 
its humor, its sympathy, its intelligence, its culture, and it's 
common sense, and yet is not without a touch of original 
genius sufficient to stamp his utterances, then Mr. James 
Whitcomb Riley has a just claim to that title. 

He is unique among American men of letters (or poets, 
one might better say ; for strictly speaking he is not a man of 
letters at all) in that he has originality of style, and yet is 
entirely native and homely. Whitman was original, but he 
was entirely prophetic and remote, appealing only to the 
few ; Longfellow had style, but his was the voice of our col- 
legiate and cultivated classes. It is not a question of rank or 
comparison; it is merely a matter of definitions. It is the 
position rather than the magnitude of any particular and con- 
temporary star that one is interested in fixing. To determine 
its magnitude, a certain quality of endurance must be taken 
into account ; and to observe this quality often requires con- 
siderable time. Quite apart, then, from Mr. Riley's relative 
merit in the great anthology of English poetry, he has a very 
definite and positive place in the history of American letters 
as the first widely representative poet of the American people. 

He is professedly a home-keeping, home-loving poet, with 
the purpose of the imaginative realist, depending upon com- 
mon sights and sounds for his inspirations, and engrossed 
with the significance of facts. Like Mr. Kipling, whose idea 
of perpetual bliss is a heaven where every artist shall " draw 
the thing as he sees it, for the God of things as they are,'' 
Mr. Riley exclaims: — 



JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. 461 

•' Tell of the things jest like they wuz — 
They don't need no excuse ! 
Don't tetch 'em up as the poets does, 
Till they 're all too tine fer use ! " 

And again, in his lines on " A Southern Singer": — 

" Sing us back home, from there to here ; 
Grant your high grace and wit, but we 
Most honor your simplicity." 

In the proem to the volume 4 ' Poems here at Home"' there 
occurs a similar invocation, and a test of excellence is proposed 
which may well be taken as the gist of his own artistic 
purpose: — 

" The Poems here at Home ! Who '11 write 'em down, 
Jes' as they air — in Country and in Town? — 
Sowed thick as clods is 'crost the fields and lanes, 
Er these 'ere little hop-toads when it rains ! 
"Who'll ' voice' 'em? as I heerd a feller say 
'At speechified on Freedom, t'other day, 
And soared the Eagle tel, it 'peared to me, 
She was n't bigger 'n a bumble-bee ! 

" What We want, as I sense it, in the line 
O' poetry is somepin' Yours and Mine — 
Somepin' with live-stock in it, and out-doors, 
And old crick-bottoms, snags, and sycamores ! 
Put weeds in — pizenvines, and underbresh, 
As well as johnny-jump-ups, all so fresh 
An' sassy-like ! — and groun'-squir'ls, — yes, and ' We,' 
As sayin' is, — ' We, Us and Company.' " 

In the lines '"Right here at Home" the same strain recurs, 
like the very burden of the poet's life-song : — 

" Right here at home, boys, is the place, I guess, 
Fer me and you and plain old happiness ; 
We hear the World 's lots grander — likely so, — 
We '11 take the World 's word for it and not go. 
We know its ways ain't our ways, so we '11 stay 
Right here at home, boys, where we know the way. 

" Right here at home, boys, where a well-to-do 
Man 's plenty rich enough — and knows it, too, 



402 LEADERS OF MEN. 

And 's got a' extry dollar, any time, 
To boost a feller up 'at wants to climb, 
And 's got the git-up in him to go in 
And git there, like he purt' nigh alius kin !" 

It is in this spirit that by far the greater part of his work, 
the telling and significant part of it, is conceived. The whole 
tatterdemalion company of his Tugg Martins, Jap Millers, 
Armazindys, Bee Fesslers, and their comrades, as rollicking 
and magnetic as Shakespeare's own wonderful populace, he 
finds "right here at home "; nothing human is alien to him ; 
indeed, there is something truly Elizabethan, something 
spacious and robust, in his humanity, quite exceptional to our 
fashion-plate standards. In the same wholesome, glad frame 
of mind, too, he deals with nature, mingling the keenest, most 
loving observation with the most familiar modes of speech. 
An artist in his ever sensitive appreciation and impressiona- 
bility, never missing a phase or mood of natural beauty, he 
has the added ability so necessary to the final touch of illu- 
sion, — the power of ease, the power of making his most casual 
word seem inevitable, and his most inevitable word seem 
casual. It is in this, I think, that he differs from all his rivals 
in the field of familiar and dialect poetry. Other writers are 
as familar as he, and many as truly inspired ; but none com- 
bines to such a degree the homespun phrase with the lyric 
feeling. His only compeer in this regard is Lowell, in the 
brilliant Biglow Papers, and several other less known but not 
less admirable Chaucerian sketches of New England country 
life. Indeed, in humor, in native eloquence, in vivacity, Mr. 
Riley closely resembles Lowell, though differing from that 
bookman in his training and inclination, and naturally, as a 
consequence, in his range and treatment of subjects. But 
the tide of humanity, so strong in Lowell, is at flood, too, in 
the Hoosier poet. It is this humane character, preserving all 
the rugged sweetness in the elemental type of man, which 
can save us at last as a people from the ravaging taint of 
charlatanism, frivolity, and greed. 

But we must not leave our subject without discriminating 
more closely between several sorts of Mr. Riley's poetry ; for 
there is as much difference between his dialect and his classic 
English (in point of poetic excellence, I mean,) as there is 



JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. 403 

between the Scotch and English of Burns. Like Burns, he is 
a lover of the human and the simple, a lover of green fields 
and blowing flowers ; and like Burns, he is far more at home, 
far more easy and felicitous, in his native Doric than in the 
colder Attic speech of Milton and Keats. 

This is so, it seems to me, for two reasons. In the first 
place, the poet is dealing with the subject matter he knows 
best ; and, in the second place, he is using the medium of 
expression in which he has a lifelong facility. The art of 
poetry is far too delicate and too difficult to be practiced suc- 
cessfully without the most consummate and almost uncon- 
scious mastery of the language employed : so that a poet will 
hardly ever write with anything like distinction or convinc- 
ing force in any but his mother tongue. An artist's command 
of his medium must be so intimate and exquisite that his 
thought can find adequate expression in it as easily as in the 
lifting of a finger or the moving of an eyelid. Otherwise he 
is self-conscious, unnatural, false ; and, hide it as he may, we 
feel the awkwardness and indecision in his work. He who 
treats of subjects which he knows only imperfectly cannot be 
true to nature ; while he who employs some means of expres- 
sion which he only imperfectly controls cannot be true to him- 
self. The best art requires the fulfillment of both these severe 
demands ; they are the cardinal virtues of art. Disregard of 
the first produces the dilettante ; disregard of the second pro- 
duces the charlatan. That either of these epithets would 
seem entirely incongruous, if applied to Mr. Riley, is a tribute 
to his thorough worth as a writer. 

His verse, then, divides itself sharply into two kinds, the 
dialect and the conventional. But we have so completely 
identified him with the former manner that it is hard to esti- 
mate his work in the latter. It may be doubted, however, 
whether he would have reached his present eminence had he 
confined his efforts to the strictly regulated forms of standard 
English. In poems like "A Life Term" and "One Afternoon," 
for instance, there is smoothness, even grace of movement, but 
hardly that distinction which we call style, and little of the 
lyric plangency the author commands at his best ; while very 
often in his use of authorized English there is a strangely 
marked reminiscence of older poets, as of Keats in "A Water 
Color" (not to speak of "A Ditty of No Tone," written as a 



464 LEADERS OF MEN. 

frankly imitative tribute of admiration for the author of the 
" Ode to a Grecian Urn''), or of Emerson in " The All-Kind 
Mother." In only one of the dialect poems, on the other hand, 
is there any imitative note. His " Nothin' to Say" has much 
of the atmosphere and feeling as well as the movement of 
Tennyson's "Northern Farmer." But for the most part, 
when Mr. Riley uses his own dialect, he is thoroughly origi- 
nal as well as effective. He has not only the lyrical impetus 
so needful to good poetry ; he has also the story-teller's gift. 
And when we add to these two qualities an abundant share 
of whimsical humor, we have the equipment which has so 
justly given him wide repute. 

All of these characteristics are brought into play in such 
poems as " Fessler's Bees," one of the fairest examples of Mr. 
Riley's balladry at its best : — 

4< Might call him a bee-expert, 
When it come to handlin' bees, — 
Roll the sleeves up of his shirt 
And wade in amongst the trees 
Where a swarm 'u'd settle, and — 
Blandest man on top of dirt ! — 
Rake 'em with his naked hand 
Right back in the hive ag'in, 
Jes' as easy as you please ! " 

For Mr. Riley is a true balladist. He is really doing for the 
modern, popular taste, here and now, what the old balladists 
did in their time. He is an entertainer. He has the ear of 
his audience. He knows their likes and dislikes, and humors 
them. His very considerable and very successful experience 
as a public reader of his own work has reinforced his 
natural modesty and love of people, and made him con- 
stantly regardful of their pleasure. So that we must look 
upon his verses as a most genuine and spontaneous expres- 
sion of average poetic feeling as well as personal poetic inspi- 
ration. 

Every artist's work must be, necessarily, a more or less 
successful compromise between these two opposing and diffi- 
cult conditions of achievement. The great artists are they 
who succeed at last in imposing upon others their own pecul- 
iar and novel conceptions of beauty. But these are only the 



JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. 465 

few whom the gods favor beyond their fellows ; while for the 
rank and file of those who deal in the perishable wares of art 
a less ambitious standard may well be allowed. We must 
have our balladists as well as our bards, it seems ; and very 
fortunate is the day when we can have one with so much real 
spirit and humanity about him as Mr. Riley. 

At times the pathos of the theme quite outweighs its home- 
liness, and lifts the author above the region of self-conscious 
art ; the use of dialect drops away, and a creation of pure 
poetry comes to light, as in that irresistible elegy " Little 
Haly," for example : — 

'• ' Little Haly, little Haly,' cheeps the robin in the tree ; 
' Little Haly.' sighs the clover ; ' Little Haly,' moans the bee ; 
' Little Haly, little Haly, ' calls the Kill-dee at twilight ; 
And the katydids and crickets hollers ' Haly ' all the night." 

In this powerful lyric there is a simple directness ap- 
proaching the feeling of Greek poetry, and one cannot help 
regretting the few intrusions of bad grammar and distorted 
spelling. They are not necessary. The poem is so universal 
in its human appeal, it seems a pity to limit the range of its 
appreciation by hampering it with local peculiarities of 
speech. 

At times, too, in his interpretations of nature, Mr. Riley 
lays aside his drollery and his drawling accent in exchange 
for an incisive power of phrase. 

" The wild goose trails his harrow " 

is an example of the keenness of fancy I refer to. Another is 
found in the closing phrase of one of the stanzas in " A Coun- 
try Pathway ": — 

'■ A puritanic quiet here reviles 

The almost whispered warble from the hedge, 
And takes a locust's rasping voice and files 
The silence to an edge." 

In "The Flying Islands of the Night " Mr. Riley has made 
his widest departure into the reign of whimsical imagination. 
Here he has retained that liberty of unshackled speech, that 
freedom and ease of diction, which mark his more familiar 
themes, and at the same time has entered an entirely fresh 



466 LEADERS OF HEX. 

field for him, a sort of grown-up fairyland. There are many 
strains of fine poetry in this miniature play, which show Mr. 
Riley's lyrical faculty at its best. In one instance there is a 
peculiar treatment of the octosyllabic quatrain, where he has 
chosen to print it in the guise of blank verse. It is impossible, 
however, to conceal the true swing of the lines. 

" I loved her. Why ? I never knew. Perhaps 
Because her face was fair. Perhaps because 
Her eyes were blue and wore a weary air. 
Perhaps ! Perhaps because her limpid face 
Was eddied with a restless tide, wherein 
The dimples found no place to anchor and 
Abide. Perhaps because her tresses bea't 
A froth of gold about her throat, and poured 
In splendor to the feet that ever seemed 
Afloat. Perhaps because of that wild way 
Her sudden laughter overleapt propriety ; 
Or — who will say ? — perhaps the way she wept." 

It almost seems as if Mr. Riley, with his bent for jesting 
and his habit of wearing the cap and bells, did not dare be as 
poetical as he could ; and when a serious lyric came to him, 
he must hide it under the least lyrical appearance, as he has 
done here. But that, surely, if it be so, is a great injustice to 
himself. He might well attempt the serious as well as the 
comic side of poetry, remembering that " when the half -gods 
go, the gods arrive." 

No poet in the United States has the same hold upon the 
minds of the people as Riley. He is the poet of the plain 
American. They buy thousands of dollars' worth of his verse 
e\ery year and he is also one of the most successful lecturers 
on the platform. He gives the lie to the old saying, for he is 
a prophet in his own country. The people of Indiana are justly 
proud of him for he has written " Poems here at home." He 
is read by people who never before read poetry in their life 
and he appeals equally well to the man who is heartsick of 
the hollow, conventional verse in imitation of some classic. 

He is absolutely American in every line he writes. His 
schooling has been in the school of realities. He takes the 
thing at first hand. He considers his success to be due to 
the fact that he is one of the people and has written of the 




JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. 



PERSONAL PURITY AND NOBILITY. 469 

things he liked and they liked. The time will come when his 
work will be seen to be something more, vastly more than the 
fancies of the humorist. He is the most remarkable exempli- 
fication of the power of genius to transmute plain clods into 
gold that we have seen since the time of Burns. He has dom- 
inated stern and unyielding conditions with equal success 
and reflected the life of his kind with even greater fidelity 
than Burns. 

This material so apparently grim and barren of light and 
shade waited only for the creative mind and sympathetic 
intelligence ; then it grew beautiful and musical and radiant 
with color and light and life. Therein is the magnificent 
lesson to be drawn from the life and work of the " Hoosier 
Poet." 

PERSONAL PURITY AND NOBILITY. 

HOMAS ALVA EDISON was once asked why he was a 
total abstainer. He said, "I thought I had a better 
^ use for my head." The answer is worth remembering 
by any young fellow who means to use his brains. A 
wonderful battery they make. Every morning they take up 
their work, and start us on our daily pleasure or our daily 
duty, if,— 

If we have not undertaken to impose on nature's plan for 
them. 

If we have not tried this stimulus or that stimulus, not in 
the plan for which they were made. 

The young man who means to do the best possible work his 
body and mind can do, keeps his body and mind as pure, as 
clean from outside filth, as Edison keeps his brain. 

This is what is meant when we are told to keep ourselves 
as pure as little children are. 

The readers of this book are so well up to the lessons of 
this time that they know that the men who are trained for a 
football match, or a running match, or a boxing match, have 
to keep their bodies from any stimulus but that which is given 
by food prepared in the simplest way, so as to suit the most 
simple appetite. 

It is not simply that a man's body must be in good order 
itself. What is needed is that a man shall be ready and able 
to govern his body. He shall say " Go," and his body shall 



470 LEADERS OF MEN. 

go. He shall say " Go faster," and his body shall go faster. 
His will, his power to govern his machinery, depends on his 
keeping himself pure. 

Three hundred years ago, a certain set of men and women 
in England earned for themselves the name of Puritans. 
That name was given them because they kept their bodies 
pure. Those men and women did this because the Saviour of 
men and all his apostles commanded them to do so. The New 
Testament insists on personal purity as the beginning of all 
training and all knowledge. "The wisdom from above is 
first pure," it says. And such men as Paul and Peter and the 
rest, who changed the world, insisted on personal purity. 
They meant that a man's body should be so pure as to be a fit 
temple of God. The Puritans of England believed in such 
instructions, and they kept their bodies pure. In his inter- 
course with women, in his use of stimulants, a Puritan gentle- 
man earned his name by his chastity and his temperance. 

The Cavaliers, the men at court, ridiculed this obedience to 
divine law. What followed on this ridicule ? This followed : 
that, when the questions of English liberty were submitted to 
the decision of battle, when the fine gentlemen of the court 
found themselves in array against the farmers of Lincoln- 
shire, led by Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan troopers, who kept 
their bodies pure, rode over the gay gentlemen, who did not 
keep their bodies pure. 

What happened on our side of the water was that the 
handful of Puritan settlers in Plymouth and in the Bay, who 
kept their bodies pure, were more than a match for the men 
of Massasoit and Philip, who did not keep their bodies pure. 
They could outmarch them, could outwatch them, could out- 
fight them. They could rule their bodies. They could be 
firm to a purpose. They had at command such strength as 
had been given to them. 

Young men of the present day know what are the tempta- 
tions which now offer themselves in the life of an American 
boy. They are different in different places. " Not long ago," 
says Edward Everett Hale, "I was speaking on the need of 
immediate act if one would carry out a good resolution. I 
was in the largest theater in Boston. I looked up at the 
third gallery, which was crowded with several hundred boys 
and young men. I said, ' Go home, and take down from the 



PERSONAL PURITY AND NOBILITY. 471 

wall of your room the picture you would be ashamed to have 
your mother see there,' An evident wave of consciousness 
passed over the hundreds of witnesses, as they turned to 
each other, as they smiled, or in some way showed that they 
knew what I was talking about. 

Young men know better than old men what are the pres- 
ent temptations. If young men knew as well as old men do 
how much of the best life of every country is lost because 
the young men do not resist those temptations, they would 
pay more attention to what old men say to them. Anybody 
who knows the history of the tug of war between France and 
Germany twenty years ago knows what happened then. War 
tests all forms of manliness. It tests endurance and physical 
strength and patience under disappointment. We know who 
went under when the French troops, all rotten with the 
impurity of France, met the German peasants. The French 
Empire disappeared because of the dissoluteness of the French 
Empire. A court like that could not expect the support of sol- 
diers any stronger than the officers of the headquarters-staff 
who marshaled them. 

To a man deep down in licentious or intemperate habits, it 
is very difficult to prescribe the remedies for his cure. The 
trouble is that he has lost the power of will. It is very hard 
then to make him will or determine anything. The poor 
creature does not know what determination means. He says 
at night, " I will never touch liquor again," and the next day, 
when he passes a liquor shop, he says, "I have changed my 
mind, and I will take it again." Indeed, he has not changed 
his mind, he has no mind to change. He never made a reso- 
lution, because such a man cannot make a resolution. 

For young men, the course is distinct, and not so difficult. 
The prayer, "Lead us not into temptation," states it very 
precisely. This is the reason why the men who wish to have 
our cities temperate wish to close the open saloon in the city. 
They want to save young men from a very fascinating temp- 
tation. For every young man who reads this page knows 
that, while he might go into an open shop with a friend to 
drink a glass of beer, to treat or to be treated, he would not 
so much as think of buying a bottle of liquor to carry it up to 
his own private room and drink it there. What we want, 
when we say we wish we could shut up all the liquor shops, is 



472 LEADERS OF MEN. 

to save from temptation people who have not formed the 
habit of drinking. Just the same thing is to be said as 
to the temptations to unchastity. If you do not begin, you 
will not take a step forward. The moment that you find that 
a book is impure, or is such a book as you would not show to 
your mother or your sister, that is the moment to put that 
book into the fire. Indeed, the mere physical act of putting it 
into the fire will be a good thing for you. It will be like one 
of the old sacrifices on the altar. 

And if you want any reason which you can state to a 
friend or yourself, for your taking su.ch a course, the reason 
is, that you wish to keep mind and body in the condition in 
which it pleased God to make them. You mean to train your- 
self precisely as the trainer of a football team or a baseball 
team or a boat crew trains his men. You mean that your 
hand shall be steady, your feet quick, your arm strong. And, 
more than this, you mean to have these powers in immediate 
command, so that they shall do just what you, the living 
man, want to have done. 

The brain of man works most accurately and most steadily, 
and therefore most reliably, when it is never plagued or per- 
plexed by the influence of liquor. The literary man who is 
a total abstainer comes back to his desk every morning most 
easily and most readily. On an emergency he sticks to his 
work for four and twenty hours, if it is necessary, most 
cheerfully. And in that four and twenty hours his work is 
best worth reading. You may ask any newspaper man you 
choose, or any literary man of fifty years' experience who has 
known the other literary men of his time, and they will sub- 
stantiate this answer. You may ask any trainer of athletes, 
and he will sustain this answer. For absolute physical exer- 
tion the point is conceded. The riflemen who take the prizes 
in England are total abstinent men. And Greely says him- 
self that if he were to take another party to the North Pole he 
would take no man if he was not a total abstinent by habit 
and principle. In point of fact, the great exertion by which 
the American flag was planted nearest the North Pole was 
made by men who had no regular spirit ration. 

The highest eulogy which can be paid to anyone is to say 
that he is noble. It is comprehensive of all the virtues and 
of all the graces. There is no one word representing charac- 



PERSONAL PURITY AND NOBILITY. 473 

ter and esteem which is so all-embracing. There are some 
words for which no adequate definition seems possible. The 
feeling of their meaning is deeper than any impression which 
language is able to convey. Such a word is nobility. If one 
were to attempt the substitution of some other word for it, 
such as goodness, benevolence, justice, he will find that 
neither separately nor collectively do they fully express its 
meaning. It can only be stated by circumlocution, and even 
then inadequately. 

It is first of all a feeling. The appeal which is made to 
a noble person is answered almost before it is presented, 
because his consciousness of the needs of others is so acute 
that the meaning is comprehended intuitively. Nobility is 
the expression, not of the intellect so much as of the soul, not 
merely of the mind but of the heart. It is often, indeed gen- 
erally, expressed in the face, for a really noble person, how- 
ever much he may strive to do so, cannot conceal from others 
the benevolence which controls his life. 

The nobility of feeling involves sympathy with all that is 
true and good. It is the condition of a person who looks with 
dissatisfaction upon everything low and degrading and is 
conscious of entire harmony with that which is elevated and 
pure. Such feelings have animated all those who have been 
recognized among the choice characters of the world. 

Then there is also nobility of character. The feeling has 
become habit, and forms what is known among men as char- 
acter. It is not a mere emotion, but a mode of life in which 
all the powers and attainments are subordinated to the high- 
est aims and plans. The noble character finds itself so 
intrenched in desires for the welfare of all, that temptations 
in the opposite direction cease to be effective. In other words, 
his whole being has become ennobled. 

Nobility of feeling and character is always accompanied 
by nobility of action. Character and action are harmonious, 
and cannot be in conflict. There may be good actions per- 
formed spasmodically or as the result of impulse by those 
whose souls are not noble, but a steady, sustained life, 
doing noble deeds, is only possible when connected with those 
emotions and conditions which naturally and necessarily pro- 
duce them. A life that is noble is always the result of inner 
forces and not of external incitements. The topic under con- 



474 LEADERS OF MEN. 

sideration is not merely nobility, but true nobility. This word 
is employed by lexicographers and in literature in different 
senses. It is applied to nobility of descent, i. e., to hereditary 
nobility, in which the title descends from generation to gen- 
eration. It is a title of rank and has no necessary relation to 
personal character. While some such noblemen have true 
nobility, there are others to whom it is entirely wanting. 
There have been men of loftiest worth who have won the 
highest crowns of rank or station, while others who are offi- 
cially designated by such titles have shown themselves 
unworthy to wear theirs. Of Lord Byron it may be said 
that he was a great poet and nobleman, but not a noble man, 
while of Lord Shaftesbury it must be said that he was alike 
noble in rank, in character, and in works, thus combining in 
himself the highest qualities of manhood. 

The real nobility, however, has already been indicated, 
viz., that which consists in personal worth. One may be 
truly noble, and recognized as such, though destitute of learn- 
ing, scholarship, office, or rank. Indeed, it is frequently 
found in persons of the humblest worldly circumstances. 
Almost every day we read of acts worthy of heroes, done by 
those whose names are scarcely known in the community in 
which they dwell. Instances to justify this statement will 
meet daily the readers of current literature. 

The qualities then which must be sought in order to secure 
true nobility are a lofty purpose, deep sympathies, and absolute 
self-sacrifice. Neither is sufficient without the others. What 
then is the purpose which must enter into and constitute a 
noble life ? It must be both general and particular. It 
desires to make the best of the whole world and the best of 
each member of society. It, however, must save the whole 
by saving each part of it. It serves the whole society by serv- 
ing the units of which it is composed. Hence nobility does 
not neglect little things or to do good in what seems small 
and insignificant ways. Nothing is too small and nothing is 
too large for a noble soul to do. In statesmanship and patriot- 
ism both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were 
truly noble. How lofty their aims, how earnestly they sym- 
pathized with struggling humanity, and how unselfish and 
complete were their sacrifices ! 

How much nobility is found among business men ! How 



PERSONAL PURITY AND NOBILITY. 475 

many are doing business, not for their own aggrandizement, 
but to benefit their fellow men ! A gentleman of extensive 
business told the writer of this but recently that he did not 
expect to make any more money. What he made hereafter 
was for others. 

The same is true also in professional life. In the ministry, 
in law, in medicine, are to be found men, not a few, whose 
aim is not wealth or fame, but who desire to serve "their 
generation according to the will of God." It were easy to 
make a catalogue of men and women in all ages who repre- 
sent to the world this type of character. They are the 
choicest treasures of our World, more precious than mines of 
gold and of silver. To enumerate even a few of them would 
be impossible here. 

The one noble character which rises above all others is the 
world's Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the highest 
specimen of true nobility the world has ever known. Every 
trait illustrating it was found in him and the attainment of it 
will be best secured by the study of his life and teachings 
and the imitation of his example. 

True nobility is possible to all and everywhere. It matters 
little whether one be in public position or in private station, 
in a royal palace or in a humble cottage, in professional life 
or in daily manual labor. There is no place where it will not 
have opportunity for exercise. Wherever generosity, purity, 
self-sacrifice, truth, and fidelity are found, there will be found 
that for which all the people of the world should seek, true 
nobility. 

" Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies 
In other men, sleeping, but never dead, 
Will rise in majesty to meet thine, own." — Lowell. 

'• Be noble in every thought and in every deed." — Longfellow. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THOMAS BRACKETT REED. 



ON THE RIGHT USE OF WEALTH A CONVERSATION GLIMPSES OF 

HIS CHARACTERISTICS STRENGTH OF HIS PERSONAL CONVICTIONS HIS 

HOME HOW IT BESPEAKS THE MAN FAVORITE CLUB EARLY ENVI- 
RONMENT AND ANCESTRY — THE SCHOOLMASTER AT COLLEGE HABITS 

OF READING IOURNEYS TO CALIFORNIA ADMISSION TO THE BAR HIS 

RETURN EAST ENTERS PUBLIC LIFE MEMBER OF CONGRESS A MEM- 
ORABLE SPEECH SPEAKER READINESS IN DEBATE LITERARY SIDE OF 

HIS CAREER HIS EPIGRAMS. "MAKE, SAVE, GIVE ALL YOU CAN." 

We envious people who cannot be wealthy any more than 
we can add a cubit to our stature avenge ourselves by think- 
ing and proclaiming that pursuit of wealth 
is sordid and stifles the nobler sentiments of 
the soul. Whether this be so or not, if who- 
ever makes to grow two blades of grass 
where but one grew before is a benefactor 
of his race, he also is a benefactor who 
makes two ships sail the sea where but one 
encountered its storms before. However 
sordid the owner may be, this is a benefit of 
which he cannot deprive the world. 

But no progress which did not lift all 
ever lifted any. If we let the poison of filth and disease per- 
colate through the hovels of the poor, death knocks at the 
palace gates. If we leave to the greater horror of ignorance 
any portion of our race, the consequences of ignorance strike 
us all and there is no escape. We must all move, but we 
must all keep together. It is only when the rear guard comes 
up that the vanguard can go on. 





X?/<£ 



d> <?. 



THOMAS BRACKETT REED. 477 

T was at a dinner in Washington," said Robert P. Porter, 
" that I had the good fortune to find myself seated 
next to Thomas B. Reed. It was a brilliant occasion, 
for around the table sat well-known statesmen, scientists, 
jurists, economists, and literary men, besides two or three 
who had gained eminence in the medical profession. Mr. ■ 
Reed was at his best, 'better than the best champagne.' His 
conversation, sparkling with good nature, was not only exhila- 
rating to his immediate neighbors, but at times to the entire 
table. Being among friends, among the sort of men he really 
liked, he let himself out, as it were. 

" Before the conversation had gone beyond the serious 
point I remember asking the ex-Speaker how he felt at the 
time when the entire Democratic press of the country had 
pounced upon him ; when he was being held up as k The 
Czar ' — a man whose iron heels were crushing out American 
popular government. ' Oh.' he promptly replied, 'you mean 
what were my feelings while the uproar about the rules of 
the Fifty-first Congress was going on, and while the question 
was in doubt? Well, I had no feeling except that of entire 
serenity, and the reason was simple. I knew just what I was 
going to do if the House did not sustain me ; ' and raising his 
eyes, with a typical twist of his mouth, which those who 
have seen it don't easily forget, he added, ' when a man has 
decided upon a plan of action for either contingency there is 
no need for him to be disturbed, you know.' 

" 'And may I ask what you determined to do if the House 
decided adversely ?' 

" ' I should simply have left the chair, resigning the Speak- 
ership, and left the House, resigning my seat in Congress. 
There were things that could be done, you know, outside of 
political life, and for my own part I had made up my mind 
that if political life consisted in sitting helplessly in the 
Speaker's chair, and seeing the majority powerless to pass 
legislation, I had had enough of it, and was ready to step 
down and out.' 

"After a moment's pause he turned, and, looking me full in 
the face with a half smile, continued : ' Did it ever occur to 
you that it is a very soothing thing to know exactly what you 
are going to do, if things do not go your way ? You have 
then made yourself equal to the worst, and have only to wait 



478 LEADERS OF MEN. 

and find out what was ordained before the foundation of the 
world.' 

" ' You never had a doubt in your own mind that the posi- 
tion taken was in perfect accordance with justice and com- 
mon sense ? ' I ventured. 

•'"Never for a moment. Men, you see, being creatures of 
use and wont, are naturally bound up in old traditions. While 
every court which had ever considered the question had de- 
cided one way, we had been used to the other. Fortunately 
for the country, there was no wavering in our ranks.' 

" ' But how did you feel,' said I, ' when the uproar was at 
its worst, when the members of the minority were raging on 
the floor together ? ' 

" 'Just as you would feel,' was the reply, 'if a big crea- 
ture were jumping at you, and you knew the exact length and 
strength of his chain, and were quite sure of the weapon you 
had in your hands.' " 

This conversation gives a clear insight into the character 
of Thomas B. Reed. It shows his chief characteristics : manly 
aggressiveness, an iron will — qualities which friend and foe 
alike have recognized in him — with a certain serenity of 
temper, a broadness, a bigness of horizon which only the 
men who have been brought into personal contact with him 
fully appreciate. 

Standing, as he does, in the foremost rank of both public 
and professional men, still one of the leaders of his party, he 
must continue to be one of the most attractive personages in 
American life. First of all, one thing about the man has to 
be emphasized ; he lacks one of the traits that popular leaders 
too often possess. He cannot be all things to all men. He is 
bound to be true to his personal convictions, and he is not the 
man to advocate measures or policies he detests. Every one 
knows how public men have at times voted against their 
earnest convictions, and then gone into the cloak room and 
apologized for it ; but it would be difficult to imagine a man 
of Mr. Reed's composition in this role. 

To judge a man well, to know his best side, it is necessary 
to see him at home. 

Mr. Reed's home in Portland is a three-story corner brick 
house, on one of the most sightly spots in town. Over the 
western walls of that modern, substantial New England 



THOMAS BRACKETT REED. 470 

home there clambers a mass of Japanese ivy, which, reliev- 
ing the straightness of the architectural lines, gives a pleas- 
ing something, an artistic touch, to the ensemble. From the 
roof of the house there is a superb view of Casco Bay and 
the picturesque expanse of country around Portland. 

The stamp of the man's character is plain everywhere in 
that house. The rooms are large, airy, and unpretentiously 
furnished, yet with solidity and that certain winning grace of 
domestic appointments in old New England. Much of Mr. 
Reed's work is done at his desk in a wee bit of a room on the 
second floor, where crowded bookshelves reach to the ceiling. 
His library long ago overflowed the confines of his den, and 
books are scattered through the rooms on every floor ; books, 
bought not for bindings nor editions, but for the contents, 
ranging from miscellaneous novels to the dryest historical 
treatises, from poetry to philosophy. 

The library, on the ground floor, where callers are usually 
received, has among the inevitable bookshelves a few photo- 
graphs of masterpieces. Over the mantelpiece a painting of 
Weeks's shows that the sympathies of the owner extend be- 
yond that sphere to which the reading public is inclined to 
confine him. 

Of the favorite haunts of Mr. Reed, the place of all to 
study his social side is at his club, The Cumberland. 

"You see,"' said Mr. Reed, once in conversation, "a club 
of this kind is only possible in a conservative town like Port- 
land, a staid, old place which grows slowly, at the rate of 
about five or six hundred a year, where the one hundred club 
members, while belonging to opposite political parties, unite 
to a man in celebrating the victory of any of their fellow 
members. Most of them, friends from boyhood, have gone 
to school together, and are known to one another but by their 
Christian names." There the ex-Czar is always called " Tom," 
or "Thomas, old boy," and there reigns supreme a fine spirit 
of equality, or unpretentious "give and take"' sort of inter- 
course, which is really the ideal object of a club. 

" Indeed, there is no place like it," said Mr. Reed. "It is 
the most homelike club one can imagine ; too small to have 
coteries, and with lots of bright, sensible boys, quick at 
repartee. People talk of my wit, but, I tell you, it 's hard 
work to hold my own there ; and then, no one can try to pose 



480 LEADERS OF M EX. 

among us, or attempt to make a fool of himself, but he is 
properly sat upon. Intercourse with your fellow men in such 
a milieu is the best discipline I know of for a man — except 
that of political life," he added, with a droll smile. 

Of course Mr. Reed is always interested in the welfare of 
Portland, though professionally a resident of New York, and 
he cherishes the idea that some day the city of his birth will 
become one of the great cities of the continent. " Portland 
harbor is one of the finest on the Atlantic coast. It is at least 
two days nearer Europe than New York, and one day nearer 
Europe than Boston. The annexation of Canada to the 
United States, or the union of the two countries, one of which 
is bound to come in the course of time, will surely bring to 
Portland the great prosperity that should be hers by reason 
of her admirable harbor and her geographical position. 
And," he added, "while I liked the life in Washington, es- 
pecially when the session was active and there was plenty 
of work to do, and while I enjoy the tense activity of New 
York, it has never yet been the case that I have left Portland 
without regret, or gone back to it without pleasure." 

The frame house in which he was born still stands, shaded 
by two elms of obvious age. Henry W. Longfellow was born 
just around the corner from it, in a dwelling that marks the 
spot where, in 1632, one George Cleeve built the first white 
man's habitation ever erected in the territory now included 
in Portland's boundaries. The settlement was called, in ten- 
der remembrance of an English field, " Stogumnor." audits 
founder's life was one of almost ceaseless conflict, now with 
the redskins and now with the white neighbors of other settle- 
ments, so that Cleeve left behind him the impress of a bold, 
vigorous fellow. His daughter married Michael Mitten, whose 
two daughters in turn married two brothers named Brackett. 
One of the Brackett daughters married a fisherman named 
Reed, whose descendant, Thomas Brackett Reed, has exhib- 
ited, in a different way and under vastly different circum- 
stances, much of the nerve and daring that animated his stern 
old fighting settler-ancestor, George Cleeve. 

At nine Mr. Reed entered the grammar school, at eleven 
the high school. He was sixteen years old when he com- 
pleted his course in the latter. His boyhood friends say he 
was fond of fun, though the amount of knowledge he absorbed 



THOMAS BRACKET! 1 REED. 481 

would indicate that he was also fond of books ; yet Mr. Reed 
himself confesses that literature in general, and old romances 
in particular, attracted him more than text-books. He still 
remembers his first schoolmaster, a spare young man, "the 
best disciplinarian lever knew," who had the art of holding a 
turbulent school by finding out what was the particular spring 
he could touch to control every one of his lawless boys. 

"He had the pull on me," says Mr. Reed, "by simply 
holding over me in critical moments the penalty of dismissal. 
You know, I had a sort of inborn idea that the school was a 
great thing for me, and I knew that my parents were too poor 
to afford to send me anywhere else, so I kept straight along, 
doing my duty. It was the master's custom to allow each 
boy who had no demerits to ring his bell before leaving the 
class, and once for three days in succession I did not ring that 
bell. I can see now the master coming to me, and saying : 
' Tom, is it an inadvertence ? ' ' No, sir.' ' Did you break the 
rules?' 'Yes, sir.' •Why?' ' Because they were too hard.' 
' Well, boy, you know what you can do if the rules are too 
hard; you can leave school.' I hung my head and he went 
away, after a few moments of, to me, terrible silence, saying : 
' Never let me hear of this again, Tom.' And I replied : ' No, 
sir,' and meant it." 

On entering Bowdoin College in 1856, young Reed had a 
half-formed desire of becoming a minister, which he relin- 
quished, however, long before his graduation. His life strug- 
gle began in earnest with that first year at college, for he had 
to earn enough to pay his way as he went along. His attend- 
ance at class recitations during the first term of his freshnnm 
year was regular, but he found it necessary to drop out the 
next two terms and earn some money by teaching. He kept 
up his studies, however, without an instructor. All through 
the first part of his college course young Reed devoted a great 
deal of time to literature, to the neglect of his studies. While 
in the high school, a garret in the house of one of his mother's 
relations had become his Mecca. It was packed full of books, 
especially novels, and there he was wont to journey twice a 
week, loading himself with volumes, over which he spent his 
days and the best part of his nights. Mr. Reed says that it 
was mostly trashy, imaginative stuff, but that it also was 
full of delight, and in some ways full of information for him. 



482 LEADERS OF MEN. 

To that omnivorous reading he attributes in large part his 
knowledge of words, and it was also, no doubt, an apprentice- 
ship from which he stepped naturally into higher literature. 

Graduation was but little more than a year off, when, the 
contents of the garret being exhausted, the young man real- 
ized to his consternation that his class standing was very low. 
His place at the end of the college course depended on his 
average class standing all through. He had received none of 
the sixteen junior parts which were given out during the 
junior year, and to his dismay the English orations, corre- 
sponding to the junior parts at the end of the course, were 
reduced to twelve. There was but one course open to the 
ambitious, spirited boy — to offset the low average of his 
earlier terms by an exceptionally high average during the 
last. Romances and poems were laid aside, and from that 
time forward until commencement he was up at five in 
the morning, and by nine o'clock every night he was in bed, 
and tired enough to drop asleep at once. Mr. Reed says very 
frankly that he did not relish this regimen, for by nature he 
is indolent. Apropos of this, it was a common saying among 
his comrades that Reed would be somebody some day, if he 
were not so lazy. 

The consequences of his three years of novel reading were 
such a serious matter to him that he was afraid to go and 
hear the result of the final examinations, but remained in his 
room until a friend came to tell him that he was one of the 
first five in his class in his average for the entire course. 
This is the other side of Reed " the lazy." 

Besides this success, his oration on " The Fear of Death *' 
won the first prize for English composition. It was in deliver- 
ing it that Mr. Reed felt the first emotions of an orator, when 
every eye in the audience was riveted upon him, and when 
the profound silence that prevailed told the deep interest 
which his words aroused. Of the year's work which won for 
him the privilege of delivering it on that Commencement day, 
Mr. Reed says that it was the hardest of his life, and the only 
time he has forced himself up to his full limit for so long a 
period. 

Graduation from college was not by any means the end of 
the struggle for the young man. Money was still lacking, and* 
to get it he engaged in school teaching, an occupation which 



THOMAS BR AC RETT REED. 483 

he had already followed during two terms, and in vacation 
times. He taught at first for twenty dollars a month, 
"boarding round," and the highest pay he ever received as a 
teacher was forty-five dollars a month. His old comrades 
delight in telling an incident of his school teaching days. 
He once found it necessary to chastise a boy who was about 
his own age, although he had been cautioned against whip- 
ping by the members of the committee of the district, unless 
he first referred the case to them. But Reed was Reed even 
in those days. The committee having failed to sustain him in 
the past, in this instance he decided that some one must be 
master at school, and that he would be that some one. Accord- 
ingly, the refractory young man was thrashed, after an excit- 
ing quarter of an. hour — a close victory, which one pound 
more avoirdupois might have decided against the teacher. 

Mr. Reed soon gave up school teaching, and, thinking that 
a young man would have a better chance out West, he went 
to California. Judge Wallace, afterwards Chief Justice of 
California, examined Reed for admission to the bar. It was 
in 1863, during the Civil War, when the Legal Tender Act was 
much discussed in California, where a gold basis was still 
maintained, that Wallace, whose office adjoined the one where 
Reed was studying, happened in one day and said, " Mr. Reed, 
I understand you want to be admitted to the bar. Have you 
studied law?" "Yes, sir, I studied law in Maine while 
teaching." "Well," said Wallace, "I have one question to 
ask. Is the Legal Tender Act constitutional ? " " Yes," said 
Reed. " You shall be admitted to the bar," said Wallace. 
" Tom Bodley (a deputy sheriff, who had legal aspirations) 
was asked the same question and he said 'no.' We will 
admit you both, for anybody who can answer off-hand a ques- 
tion like that ought to practice law in this country." 

Reed's sojourn on the Pacific coast was short. In 186-4 he 
was made Assistant Paymaster in the United States Navy, 
and served in that capacity until his honorable discharge a 
year or so after. His admission to practice before the 
Supreme Court of the state of Maine followed on his return 
to the East. Cases came to the young lawyer slowly. The 
first ones were in the minor municipal courts. Gradually he 
secured a certain run of commercial and admiralty cases 
which began to yield something tangible in the shape of fees. 



484 LEA DEBS OF MEN. 

Yet the goal of success seemed a long way off, when it hap- 
pened that in one of these minor cases he cross-examined a 
refractory witness in such a manner as to completely over- 
turn the testimony given, and thereby won the case for his 
client. The unexpected result was that the witness who had 
been upset by the young lawyer's skill conceived a great 
admiration for him, and became influential in sending him 
many cases. 

That he made his mark in his modest position is shown by 
the fact that after two years, in 1867, Mr. Reed was nom- 
inated for the state Legislature. Judge Nathan Webb, then 
County Attorney, who had known Reed simply as his oppo- 
nent" in a number of cases, had proposed his name, and, after 
six ballots, had succeeded in nominating him. The first thing 
Reed knew about it was when reading the papers the next 
morning, and his first impulse was to decline. When Webb 
came in he urged him to accept, saying that a winter's legis- 
lative experience would be in every respect valuable to him. 
Mr. Reed accepted, and after serving two terms in the House 
he was elected to the state Senate. Then he was made 
Attorney-General and afterwards City Solicitor of Portland, 
and in 1876 he was for the first time nominated to represent 
his district in the House of Representatives in Washington. 

At the very moment when Reed, escorted by one of his 
colleagues, took a seat at the first convenient desk, on the 
day when he began his life as a congressman, Mr. Reed's 
massive figure, suggestive of physical strength ; the easy 
and yet not offensive assurance with which he took his seat 
and glanced with quizzical eye about the chamber ; the unaf- 
fected way with which he accepted congratulations from the 
New England members who knew him, and the reputation he 
had already won as a master of wit and the possessor of a 
tongue which could be eloquent with sarcasm, — all of these 
things so impressed Mr. S. S. Cox that he turned to Mr. Wil- 
liam P. Frye, then a member from Maine, and said : "Well, 
Frye, I see your state has sent another intellectual and phys- 
ical giant who is a youngster here." " Whom do you mean ?" 
asked Frye. " This man Reed, who must be even now crack- 
ing a joke, for I see they are all laughing about him." 

But to maintain the reputation which his state had secured 
for committing its interests to master men, Mr. Reed had a 



THOMAS BRACKET1 1 REED. 485 

hard task before him. Blaine, who had just passed from the 
House to the Senate, had made Maine of preeminent influence 
by reason of his formidable canvass for the presidential nomi- 
nation. Eugene Hale and Mr. William P. Frye represented 
in part the state in the House. Hannibal Hamlin was a mem- 
ber of the Senate, and the tradition of the remarkable intel- 
lectual achievements of William Pitt Fessenden, so long a 
senator from Maine, was still so fresh in the minds of many 
members of Congress that it was common to hear Mr. Fessen- 
den spoken of as perhaps the ablest senator since the days of 
Webster, Clay, and Calhoun. But, unlike the stories that are 
told of the debut of many statesmen, Mr. Reed's first speech 
was not a failure. On the contrary it was a success,— a suc- 
cess all the more brilliant because won under trying circum- 
stances. 

A bill was under consideration to pay the College of 
William and Mary in Virginia damage for the occupancy of 
its buildings by United States troops during the war. It was 
one of an almost innumerable class of similar claims in the 
South, and its payment would have established a precedent 
that would at that time have opened the door to the appropri- 
ation of millions of dollars. It had been put forward as being 
the most meritorious of these Southern war claims, in the 
hope that the sympathy which could be aroused in behalf of 
the venerable institution of learning making the claim (it 
dating back to Washington's time, and being of a religious 
and eleemosynary as well as educational character) would 
stir up a sentimental feeling by means of which the other 
claims could be slipped through the House. 

Dr. Loring, a Republican member from Massachusetts, one 
of the most polished and eloquent speakers in the House, had 
made a strong and touching appeal, full of pathos and senti- 
ment, in favor of the bill. At the conclusion of his speech 
spontaneous applause burst from all sides ; Republicans and 
Democrats thronged to the desk of the orator to congratulate 
and shake him by the hand. The scene was a memorable 
one. Cries of "Vote," "Vote," rose from all parts of the 
House, and it seemed inevitable that the bill would pass by 
an almost unanimous vote. 

At this juncture Mr. Reed arose. He has told that he 
would at that moment have sold his opportunity to speak for 



486 LEADERS OF MEN. 

a very insignificant sum. He stood motionless for ten min- 
utes, unable to utter a word. Knowing that his only chance 
was to dominate the turmoil, he at last raised his voice, and, 
after five minutes, he felt that he would have a hearing. 
Slowly the excitement and noise quieted down, and for forty 
minutes he was given the closest attention. The speech was 
so clear, forcible, and convincing that, in spite of some break 
in the Republican ranks, it recalled members of both parties 
from their temporary emotional lapse, and turned the tide 
against these dangerous claims. 

In 1877 he was made a member of what was known as 
" The Potter Committee," appointed to investigate the opera- 
tions of the returning boards in the South. Committee work 
was essentially congenial to Mr. Reed. He delighted in cross- 
examinations, and his power of sarcasm and of insinuating 
inquiry furnished the committee and the public with the most 
dramatic scenes which occurred at any of its sessions. In 
cross-examining a clever scoundrel, one Anderson, for in- 
stance, for two whole days, he at last compelled him to admit 
that he was a forger. " Who is this man Reed ? " every one 
began to ask, and the young congressman found himself, per- 
haps more in his legal capacity than as a legislator, famous. 

It is not the purpose of this article to describe Mr. Reed's 
public career, further than to say that there came ', day when, 
upon the departure of Mr. Frye from the House to the Senate, 
and the election of General Garfield to the presidency, Mr. 
Reed passed, by common agreement and without questioning, 
to the leadership of his party in the House, and that, in the 
logical course of events, he was naturally indicated as the 
candidate for the speakership, when, in 1889, after six years of 
minority, his party became a majority. What a magnificent 
combination of assaults and eulogies his career as Speaker 
brought forth is too vividly impressed upon the popular mind 
to need more than mention. 

During his public career Mr. Reed manifested in a score 
or more of verbal hand-to-hand conflicts his ability to meet an 
emergency to the best advantage of his side. Always upon 
his feet when he scents danger, he was as quick to scent it as 
any politician who ever occupied a seat upon that floor. He 
was at all times as truly the master of all his resources as ever 
Mr. Blaine was in that same tempestuous arena of the House. 



THOMAS BR AC RETT REED. 487 

From the first he has shown himself that vara avis, a born 
debater — aggressive and cautious, able to strike the nail 
right on the head at critical moments, to condense a whole 
argument with epigrammatic brevity. He has shown, to my 
judgment, better than any parliamentarian living, how the 
turbulent battlings of great legislative bodies, so chaotic in 
appearance, are not chaos at all to one who has the capacity 
to think with clearness and precision upon his feet. Such a 
man assimilates the substance of every speech and judges its 
relative bearing upon the question. At the beginning it is 
hard to tell where a discussion will hinge, but gradually, as 
the debate goes on, the two or three points which are the key 
of the situation become clear to the true debater. His art of 
debate may be understood as if logs were heaped in confusion 
before him, and the thing to do was to single out the one log 
which, when removed, starts all the others flying down 
stream — an easier thing to conceive than to accomplish, and 
which demands an alliance of widely diverse qualities. A 
correspondent told Mr. Heed once that it seemed to him as if 
there must be in the temperament of the debater something 
of the artist's nature — a little of the same instinct to inspire 
and guide him. And he added : " Don't you, like the artist, 
draw from material everywhere, from friend and foe alike, 
from things bearing directly upon your subject as well as 
from things that are apparently more removed from it ? Don't 
you have something akin to inspiration ? " 

"Well, perhaps so," Mr. Reed answered, " and an anec- 
dote occurs to my mind which you may think fits your theory. 
An obscure chap got up once and went for me in what was 
evidently a six months' laboriously prepared invective. I 
hardly realized what he was about, except that I had an 
impression of the man using words in the same frantic fash- 
ion a windmill uses its arms in a blow. All the same, when 
he had finished pitching into me, I could not but get up and 
return the compliment. I had no more idea of what I was 
going to say than he had, when, by a hazard, my eye caught 
in the sea of heads before me the face of another representa- 
tive from his state — a man who was one of the leaders of his 
party — and instantly the answer flashed into my mind. I had 
begun with something like ' This is only another echo of the 
minority of the Fifty-first Congress, whose echoes are dying. 



488 LEADERS OF MEN. 

not musically, but dying. Gentlemen,' I continued, it is too 
much glory for a state to furnish us with two such eminent 
representatives, the one to lead the House, the other to bring 
up the rear.' 

" But I want to tell you, while we are on this subject of the 
artist and the orator," Mr. Reed continued, "that I believe 
there is as much of a rhythm in prose as there is in poetry, 
and if a man has not the intuitive feeling of that subtle thing, 
rhythm, he can never amount to anything as an orator. Cer- 
tain books of George William Curtis — ' Prue and I,' espe- 
cially — have helped me as much as anything to realize how 
delightful a quality rhythm is." 

There is a side to Mr. Reed which few people suspect. He 
is a lover of good novels, especially such novels as those of 
Balzac and Thackeray, which present human nature in a rug- 
ged, truthful manner. Mr. Reed would have about as much 
respect for a namby-pamby novel as he has for a wishy-washy 
politician. 

Of the English novelists he likes Thackeray by far the 
best. "Pendennis," " The Adventures of Philip," and "The 
Virginians" he esteems as his most interesting works, though 
Thackeray reached high-water mark, in Mr. Reed's opinion, 
in "Vanity Fair." Charles Reade, too, has found in him an 
assiduous reader. He thinks " The Cloister and the Hearth" 
the finest and truest picture that has been made of life in the 
fifteenth century, and that Charles Reade is the best story-tel- 
ler that ever wrote English. 

In poetry his preference is for Tennyson, but he is a con- 
stant reader of Browning, Holmes, Longfellow, and Whittier 
also. " Would you mind," said Mr. Reed, while talking of 
poets, " if I descend from the great names and say that I 
have a great liking for the rhymes of a Kansas lawyer, 
Eugene F. Ware, who w r rites over the ?wm de plume of ' Iron- 
quill '? They are so direct ; they present a moral in so few and 
so strikingly well chosen words ; and then they have just 
enough of that quality of language which is always attractive 
because it is language in the making. How do you like this 
example of Mr. Ware's sturdy popular muse? 

" ' Once a Kansas zephyr strayed 

Where a brass-eyed bull-pup played ; 



THOMAS BR AC RETT REED. 489 

And that foolish canine bayed 
At that zephyr in a gay, 
Semi-idiotic way. 
Then that zephyr in about 
Half a jiffy took that pup, 
Tipped him over wrong side up ; 
Then it turned him wrong side out. 
Then it calmly journeyed thence 
With a barn and string of fence. 

Moral. 

" ' When communities turn loose 
Social forces that produce 

The disorders of a gale, 
Act upon a well-known law, 
Face the breeze, but close your jaw ; 

It's a rule that will not fail. 

If you bay it in a gay, 
Self-sufficient sort of way, 
It will land you, without doubt, 
Upside down and wrong side out.' " 

Mr. Reed, who learned French after he was forty years 
old, enjoys the masterpieces of French fiction and French 
verse in the original. He reads and rereads Horace, or, 
rather, certain parts of Horace which appeal strongly to him. 
But his one great admiration is Balzac. " Yes, I like to read 
Balzac," Mr. Reed often says. "His closeness to nature 
and life holds you in spite of yourself. There is hardly a book 
of his which is not sad beyond tears. ' Eugenie Grandet' is 
the most powerful delineation of the absorbing grasp which 
love of money has on a strong man, and the power which 
love has over an untutored spirit, but sadness permeates 
everything. That wonderful love story of the ' Duchess de 
Langais ' is like no other love story ever written. Could any- 
thing be more sad than her life at the convent, and her 
lovers long search for her hiding place? unless it be that 
lover's discovery when he scaled the convent walls, that death 
had been stronger than love, and that, after a life of wasted 
devotion, nothing could be said of her beautiful form as it 
sank into the ocean except the mournful words, ' She was a 



490 LEADERS OF MEN. 

woman ; now she is nothing.' And what an extraordinary 
picture that is in the ' Peau de Chagrin ' of the controlling 
power of society over a fashionable woman ! And again, in 
' Pere Goriot.' How sad they all are, and the sadness of a 
life that toils not nor spins ! Verily, to be happy, we must 
take no note of the flying hours, and live outside of ourselves. 
Is not the condition of joyous life to forget that we are liv- 
ing? Here most of the characters are so entirely selfish that 
one sometimes thinks there is not one single friendly heart 
in the entire story. All are so conscious of living — even 
those in the higher sphere — and so anxious to appear other 
than they are, that their entire lives are only ignoble strug- 
gles, with nothing of serene repose. When the strife is not 
for gold or position it is for love, which is thus degraded." 

The late Benjamin Butterworth, of Ohio, speaking apropos 
of Tom Reed, as Butterworth affectionately called him, related 
the following : "The way Reed's constituents have stood by 
him is one of the most gratifying things to me in American 
politics. During one of his campaigns, in which I spoke for 
him, I met some Democrats in his district ; I said, ' Gentlemen, 
I do not know anything about your politics, but you have a 
man of sterling qualities to represent you.' 'Yes,' they 
replied, ' he is an intense Republican and has peculiarities, 
but we like him because he represents the best thought of the 
district, and we vote for him on the sly.' " 

That plain-speaking man, whose chief characteristic is to 
be true to his own convictions, is a prett} 7 " good specimen of 
the Puritan. Had he been in Cromwell's army he either 
would not have prayed at all or he would have prayed just 
as long as Cromwell did. In either case he would have fought 
for what he believed to be the right, all the time, and given 
no quarter. 

Touching what might be called his blunt frankness, I recall 
an incident told me by a member, of what was known as the 
Whisky Bill. Mr. Reed had baffled the attempts of the 
whisky men to get it up, but in his temporary absence, through 
the inadvertence or incapacity of a member, the bill was 
forced on the House. Reed ran down to the fellow, and 
vented his feelings in the remark, " You are too big a fool to 
lead, and have not got sense enough to follow." 

If his bits of speeches flung about in the heat of debate, 







EX-SPEAKER THOMAS B. REED. 



MAKE, SAVE, GIVE ALL YOU CAN. 493 

either in retort or in attack, were gathered, they would make 
an unusually interesting book. No other man has like him the 
power to condense a whole argument into a few striking words. 
His epigrams are worthy of the literary artist in that they 
are perfect in form. Though struck out on the spur of the 
moment you cannot take a word from nor recast them. They 
have for solid basis a most profound knowledge of human 
nature, of life, and they exhibit to a luminous degree the 
possession in their author of that prime quality of a true man 
— horse sense. Such a fragment of a speech as the following 
is worthy to be perpetuated in any guise : " Gentlemen, 
everybody has an opinion about silver, except those who have 
talked so much about it that they have ceased to think.'' 

Since his retirement from Congress, Mr. Reed's profes- 
sional career in New York has been quite as remarkable, 
though less spectacular perhaps, as when he swayed parties 
and issues within the domain of public service. 

MAKE, SAVE, GIVE ALL YOU CAN. 

OHN WESLEY put all that can be said truthfully 

about money into the following maxim : "Make all 

you can, save all you can, give all you can." This rule 

is so brief, exhaustive, and scriptural, that it would not 

be out of place in the Bible. Wesley himself never made a 

happier statement of truth than this ; he crowded the whole 

subject into a nutshell. 

So far from wrong being attached to money-making, duty 
enjoins it. He who has the talent and opportunity to accumu- 
late is under special obligation to make money. Some men 
and women are born money-makers ; "they find a gold dollar 
under every stone they turn over."' Their Midas-touch con- 
verts everything they handle into gold. They are called 
lucky, fortunate. But that is not it. It is simply their genius 
for making money. Matthews says of this class: " They have 
the instinct of accumulation. The talent and inclination to 
convert dollars into doubloons by bargains or shrewd invest- 
ments are in them just as strongly marked and as uncon- 
trollable as were the ability and the inclination of Shakes- 
peare to produce a Hamlet and an Othello, of Raphael to paint 
the cartoons, of Beethoven to compose his symphonies, or 
Morse to invent an electric telegraph. As it would have been 



494 LEADERS OF MEN. 

a gross dereliction of duty, a shameful perversion of gifts, 
had these latter disregarded the instincts of their genius and 
engaged in the scramble for wealth, so would a Rothschild, 
an Astor, or a Peabody have sinned had any one of them done 
violence to his nature, and thrown his energies into channels 
where they would have proved dwarfs, and not giants. The 
mission of a Lawrence, equally with that of an Agassiz, a 
Bierstadt, or a Cornell, is defined in the faculties God has given 
him ; and no one of them has a right to turn aside from the 
paths to which his finger so plainly points." Academies, col- 
leges, hospitals, museums, libraries, railroads, — none of which 
could have been possible without their accumulation,— are the 
proofs of their usefulness, and though the millionaire too 
often converts his brain into a ledger, and his heart into a 
millstone, yet this starvation of. his spiritual nature is no 
more necessary in his pursuit than in that of the doctor or 
the lawyer. The same law of duty that enjoins accumula- 
tion, also prescribes the rules under which it must be made. 
If millions are made, under a careful observation of these 
rules, no sin can attach to the fortune. It is just as right to 
acquire a million as a dollar, if it be honestly done. Dis- 
honesty makes the acquisition wrong, whether it be much or 
little. The wrong does not lie in the amount accumulated, 
but in the method. Therefore we say, without hesitation, 
that it is the duty of men who can to make money. 

Others are not born with a genius to grow rich, any more 
than to paint or orate. They must cultivate a talent in this 
direction, as opportunity offers, as they would cultivate a 
talent for any work of the artisan. In this way, and in this 
alone, can they improve their God-given faculties as duty 
requires. With strict integrity of character any person can 
safely make the venture. The late Amos Lawrence wrote to 
a younger brother: "As a first and leading principle, let 
every transaction be of that pure and honest character that 
you would not be ashamed to have it appear before the whole 
world as clearly as to yourself. It is of the highest con- 
sequence that you should not only cultivate correct principles, 
but that you should place your standard so high as to require 
great vigilance in living up to it." It was under the rule of 
principle as high as this that Lawrence amassed his own for- 
tune. Duty requires that others should observe the same rule 



MAKE, SAVE, GIVE ALL YOU CAN. 495 

in making money. There is no danger in the hardest struggle 
for riches under such a rule. 

Wealth can do more good than learning, for it can pur- 
chase learning, and a thousand other things with it. For this 
reason, a man is justified in making all the money he can. A 
noble object justifies a hard struggle for the possession ; 
according to the old adage, " The end justifies the means." 

The attention of the country was directed some years ago to 
the career of a business man of large wealth, — Hon. Leland 
Stanford. The contribution of his entire fortune to the estab- 
lishment of a grand university in California has awakened 
the interest and gratitude of the American people. Begin- 
ning life a poor boy ; drifting through the Golden Gate in 
the infancy of the state, when a young man ; devoting his 
energies to business with remarkable tact and persistence ; 
and early becoming interested in public affairs,— his laudable 
ambition was rewarded by eminent success. He was one of 
the original five citizens of California who planned a rail- 
road across the continent, and finally secured it, after great 
sacrifices and trials. Many times he could behold only disap- 
pointment and disaster before him ; but hard work, courage, 
and indomitable perseverance overcame every obstacle, and 
his triumph was complete. 

It was for the welfare of his adopted state, and the pros- 
perity of his native land, that he toiled rather than for great 
riches. The latter was incidental to the achievements of a 
noble public spirit and Christian principle. In the exercise of 
Christian liberality he contributed to the support of every 
good cause, and finally showed the greatness of his benevo- 
lence by founding a university scarcely without a peer in the 
United States. Here young men and women can fit them- 
selves for almost any pursuit that learning adorns. From its 
classic halls, thousands will go.forth in future years to bless 
our land by their labors in the various professions and occupa- 
tions of life. The home will feel the saving power of their 
cultured lives, and the state and nation become stronger and 
better by their labors, showing that wealth, honestly acquired 
and rightly used, is one of the greatest agencies for good on 
earth. 

The acquisition of money becomes a valuable school of dis- 
cipline when conducted upon Christian principles. It calls 



406 LEADERS OF MEN. 

into exercise the best qualities of mind and heart, thereby 
developing true manhood and womanhood. To prove this 
statement, we have only to call the roll of honor, as it stands 
recorded on the page of history, — Lawrence, Grant, Appleton, 
Spooner, McDonough, Allen, Peabody, Slater, Goodhue, Dodge, 
and others too numerous to mention. Their business did 
more for them than their schools. The wealth it brought 
them was the least important possession, the spotless charac- 
ters coined in the process were more precious than gold. "A 
good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and lov- 
ing favor rather than silver and gold." This alone justifies 
the effort to make all you can. The process is not necessarily 
demoralizing, but uplifting and inspiring. 

When Goodhue, of New York city, was buried, the din of 
traffic was hushed in the street; and city officials, merchant 
princes, clergymen, lawyers, and scholars gathered to pay an 
honest tribute of respect to his memory. The character of the 
deceased drew them there, not his riches. The pastor said : 
" It is the recognized worth of private character which has 
extorted this homage. It is the man himself; the pure, high- 
minded, righteous man who adorned our nature, who digni- 
fied the mercantile profession, who was superior to his station, 
his riches, his exposures, and made the common virtues more 
respected and venerable than shining talents or public hon- 
ors ; who vindicated the dignity of common life, and carried a 
large, high, and noble spirit into ordinary affairs ; who made 
men recognize something inviolable and awful in the private 
conscience, and thus gave sanctity and value to our common 
humanity. This was the power, this the attraction, this the 
value of Jonathan Goodhue's life. He has made men believe 
in virtue. He has made them honor character more than 
station or wealth. He has illustrated the possible purity, dis- 
interestedness, and elevation of mercantile life. He has 
shown that a rich man can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He 
stands up by acclamation as the model of a Christian mer- 
chant." And all this under the rule, " Make all you can." 

The real value of money was never so great as now. The 
progress of civilization has largely multiplied opportunities 
and enjoyments, so that money can do more good now than 
ever. " With this talisman, a man can surround himself 
with richer means of enjoyment, secure a more varied and 



MAKE, SAVE, GIVE ALL YOU CAN. 497 

harmonious culture, and set in motion grander schemes of 
philanthropy than at any previous period in the world's his- 
tory." The proper use of money is better understood to-day 
than ever before ; .and there is a more general disposition to 
use it well. If some know better how to waste it, others 
understand, as never before, how to dispense it for the high- 
est welfare of mankind. Organizations to spend money for 
the public good are legion now, and every form of suffering 
humanity finds relief. Another strong reason for the counsel, 
"Make all you can."' 

Lord Bacon's remark about^ riches will add force to the 
foregoing : "I cannot call riches by a better name than the 
'baggage' of virtue ; the Roman word is better, ' impediment,' 
for as the baggage is to an army, so are riches to virtue. It 
cannot be spared or left behind, and yet it hindereth the 
march ; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth 
the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be 
in the distribution ; the rest is but conceit." 

When Wesley gave this counsel — " Save all you can " — 
he did not mean to inculcate stinginess, but a wise economy. 
There is a kind of saving that amounts to meanness ; it 
ought to be avoided. " There is that withholdeth more than 
is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." If it fill the coffers, it 
empties the soul of all that is noble. Wesley was the sworn 
enemy of such saving as that. He meant what Dr. Franklin 
did when he wrote to a young man : " The way to wealth is 
as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two 
words, industry and frugality ; that is, waste neither time nor 
money, but make the best use of both. If you would be 
wealthy, think of saving as well as of getting. The Indies 
did not make Spain rich, because her outgoes were greater 
than her incomes." Again, Dr. Franklin wrote: -'You may 
think that a little punch now and then, diet a little more 
costly, clothes a little finer, and a little entertainment now 
and then, can be no great matter. But, remember, many a 
a little makes a mickle." Still, again, "A man may, if he 
knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose all his life to 
the grindstone, and die not worth a groat at last." 

Saving, in this sense, is certainly a duty. It is the only 
way to prevent going behindhand in finances and to become 
forehanded. The author knew a farmer who was wont to do 



498 LEADERS OF MEN. 

considerable business as a justice of the peace. A short time 
before his death, in old age, he told a neighbor that he was 
worth fifty thousand dollars. The neighbor was greatly 
surprised, and inquired : — 

" How in the world have you done it ? " 

"By saving what other people waste," was the old 
man's reply. Successful business men, whether merchants, 
mechanics, manufacturers, or farmers, claim that economy is 
absolutely necessary to success. 

Richard Cobden, the noted English statesman, said to an 
audience of workingmen : "The world has always been 
divided into two classes ; those who have saved, and those 
who have spent ; the thrifty and the extravagant. The build- 
ing of all the houses, the mills, the bridges, and the ships, 
and the accomplishment of all other great works which have 
rendered man civilized and happy, have been done by the 
savers, — the thrifty ; and those who have wasted their 
resources have always been their slaves." 

A marketman in the country, who was selling a cartload 
of watermelons a week, was once asked : — 

" Who buys your melons ? " 

" Those who live from hand to mouth," he replied ; not 
the wealthy or the well-to-do men of the town, — the employ- 
ers, — but the workingmen, many of whom complain of their 
burdens of poverty. 

Budgett, the great English merchant, claimed that the 
want of economy doomed " hundreds of business men to 
failure." Economy was one of the cardinal lessons he taught 
his six hundred clerks. He rebuked them for using too much 
twine in tying packages and too much paper in wrapping 
them, and required them to pick up the old nails about the 
premises, that they might be straightened for use. Some of 
the clerks called him penurious, because they did not under- 
stand him. He required these things more for their sake than 
his own. It was his way of teaching economy. His numer- 
ous gifts to charitable objects proved that he was not penuri- 
ous, but he was economical. One day he saw a lad who was 
following a load of hay to pick up. the locks that fell there- 
from. He stopped to commend the boy, and recommended 
him to practice economy as a duty and advantage, and then 
gave him a shilling. At another time, he was walking with 



MAKE, SAVE GIVE, ALL YOU CAX. 499 

a female servant in the highway, when he found a potato. 
He picked it up and presented it to his servant, accompanied 
with a practical lecture on economy. He promised to furnish 
land to plant it with its product from year to year. The 
pledge was accepted, and the potato planted. The yield was 
thirteen potatoes the first year, ninety-three the second year, 
and a barrel full the third year, and had the experiment been 
continued for fifty years Budgett could not have found land 
enough in England on which to plant the last crop. Here 
Budgett taught, not only the practical advantage of economy, 
but furnished a capital illustration of the law of accumula- 
tion that follows. 

Many youths say : "Of what use is it to lay up a few 
cents a day ? If it were a dollar, it would be worth the while." 
The small amount saved, blinds them to the great value of 
the habit formed. Economy, as a habit of life, is of priceless 
worth. The amount saved, great or small, is nothing in com- 
parison with the habit of economy. 

The habit of economy enables men to live within their 
means. They pay as they go, and thus keep out of debt. 
Smiles says : " Debt makes everything a temptation. It 
lowers a man in self-respect, places him at the mercy of his 
tradesman and his servant, and renders him a slave in many 
respects, for he can no longer call himself his own master, 
nor boldly look the world in the face. It is also difficult for 
a man who is in debt to be truthful ; hence, it is said that 
lying rides on debt's back. The debtor has to frame excuses 
to his creditor for postponing payment of the money he owes 
him, and probably, also, to contrive falsehoods/' 

Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote : " Some of the neediest 
men I ever knew had a nominal five thousand pounds a year. 
Every man is needy who spends more than he has ; no man is 
needy who spends less. I may so ill manage my money that, 
with five thousand pounds a year, I purchase the worst evils 
of poverty, terror, and shame ; I may so well manage my 
money that, with one hundred pounds a year, I purchase the 
blessings of wealth, safety, and respect." 

Doctor Johnson claimed that debt was a " calamity." He 
said : "Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an 
inconvenience ; you will find it a calamity. Poverty takes 
away so many means of doing good, and produces so much 



500 LEADERS OF MEN. 

inability to resist evil, both natural and moral, that it is by all 
virtuous means to be avoided. Let it be your first care, then, 
not to be in any man's debt, for this destroys liberty, and 
makes some virtues impracticable and others extremely diffi- 
cult. Frugality is not only the basis of quiet, but of benefi- 
cence. No man can help others that wants help himself ; we 
must have enough before we have to spare." 

Nature is frugal. The wisest economy is practiced through- 
out the entire domain. Nothing is wasted. Not a particle of 
matter is lost. The leaves fall and decay, the flowers wither 
and die, the rains sink into the earth, the snowdrifts disap- 
pear before the breath of spring, wood burns to ashes, — but 
nothing is lost. In other forms all these contribute to the on- 
going of the universe ; and without this economical arrange- 
ment we know not that the divine plan could succeed. Econ- 
omy is one of the pillars on which the whole fabric rests. 

" It is the savings of the world that have made the civiliza- 
tion of the world. Savings are the result of labors ; and it is 
only when laborers begin to save that the results of civiliza- 
tion accumulate. We have said that thrift began with civil- 
ization ; we might almost have said that thrift produced 
civilization. Thrift produces capital, and capital is the con- 
served result of labor. The capitalist is merely a man who 
does not spend all that is earned by work." 

Saving to give is the highest and noblest motive. He who 
saves all he can is alone able to give as he should. There 
appears to be this natural connection between saving and 
giving, the secret of it being found in the disposition. Hence, 
too, the genuine satisfaction found in the act, — satisfaction 
not only from giving, but, also, satisfaction of saving in order 
to give. It is the only way to enjoy money, and men who 
have it ought certainly to enjoy it as they enjoy other bless- 
ings. One of the last thoughts expressed by Peter C. Brooks, 
near the close of his life, was, " Of all of the ways of dispos- 
ing of money, giving it away is the most satisfactory." His 
experience confirmed the divine statement, "It is more blessed 
to give than to receive." " The liberal soul shall be made fat ; 
and he that watereth shall be watered also himself/' "He 
which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; and he 
which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." We 
insist that these divine promises are fulfilled, both figura- 



MAKE, SAVE, GIVE ALL YOU CAN. 501 

tively and literally, in the lives of such men as Brooks, Amos 
Lawrence, Appleton, and many others. Lawrence was wont 
to repeat the famous maxim, "Charity giveth itself rich ; 
covetousness hoardeth itself poor ; ** and then he would add : 
" Here is the embodiment of a volume, and whoever wrote it 
deserves the thanks of good men. I would fain be rich, 
according as he defines riches ; but possession, — ' possession is 
the devil,' as the old Frenchman said to George Cabot.'' 

He set apart two rooms in his residence for the storage of 
articles designed to bless the needy. Here was a pile of ready 
made clothing ; there one pile of cloths to be manufactured 
into clothing ; near by, a pile of groceries, in assorted pack- 
ages, ready to deliver ; and so on, the whole space being 
occupied by what he called "hay-cocks." 

In these rooms Mr. Lawrence spent many of his happiest 
and most profitable hours in making up packages for the 
indigent ; cloth for a suit of clothes for a student in college, 
or a minister in his small country parish ; groceries for a very 
poor family just reported by a city missionary ; even a pack- 
age of toys, or something particularly useful and interesting 
for a family of children he knew. A professor in college is 
notified of a barrel and bundle of books forwarded, with 
broadcloth and pantaloon stuff, with odds and ends for "poor 
students when the}' go out to keep school in the winter." 
These were his " little deeds of kindness," when, at the same 
time, he was contributing his thousands to endow a college, 
or other literary institution, to educate young men for the 
ministry, to support missionaries and other philanthropic 
enterprises. He knew how to enjoy riches, and got more real 
satisfaction out of them than Girard or Astor ever dreamed 
of. He wrote to a son who was away at school. " I hope you 
will one day have the delightful consciousness of using a por- 
tion of your means in a way to give you as much pleasure as 
I now experience. Your wants may be brought within a very 
moderate compass ; and I hope you will never feel yourself at 
liberty to waste on yourself such means as, by system and 
right principle, may be beneficially applied to the good of 
those around you." Saving to give he both preached and 
practiced. 

Two men were conversing about the vast estate of John 
Jacob Astor, some years ago. One asked the other if he 



502 LEADERS OF MEN. 

would be willing to take care of the millionaire's property — 
fifteen or twenty millions of dollars — merely for his board 
and clothing. "No!" was the indignant reply. " Do you 
take me for a fool ? " " Well," rejoined the other, " that is all 
Mr. Astor himself gets for taking care of it ; he 's found and 
that 's all. The houses, the warehouses, the ships, the farms, 
which he counts by the hundred, and is often obliged to take 
care of, are for the accommodation of others." " But then, he 
has the income, the rents of the large property,— five or six 
hundred thousand dollars per annum," responded the other. 
" True ; but he can do nothing with that income except to 
build more houses, warehouses, and ships, or loan money on 
mortgages for the convenience of others. He 's found, and 
you can make nothing else out of it," was the triumphant 
answer of the first speaker. 

Only those who observe Wesley's rule ever get anything 
but their board and clothing for taking care of their property. 
There is only one thing to be gotten out of it ; and that is 
enjoyment ; and the latter comes from giving, and not from 
hoarding. Rothschild, the great Jew banker of years ago, was 
only "found." He was not happy ; his great wealth furnished 
him no real enjoyment. He once exclaimed to a friend who 
congratulated him upon his palatial residence and vast for- 
tune as a reason for being happy, " Happy ! Me happy ! "— 
these three words told the story of his life — " one of the most 
devoted worshipers that ever laid a withered soul on the altar 
of Mammon." 

Girard wrote to a friend : "As to myself, I live like a 
galley slave, constantly occupied, and often passing the night 
without sleeping. I am wrapped up in a labyrinth of affairs, 
and worn out with care. I do not value a fortune. The love 
of labor is my highest motive. When I rise in the morning, 
my only effort is to labor so hard during the day that, when 
night comes, I may be enabled to sleep sound." With all his 
wealth, he worked for his victuals and clothes. No wonder 
that he felt like a "galley slave." The introduction of giving 
all he could, would have enabled him to extract solid enjoy- 
ment from his riches. As it was, he was only "found." 

A rich man was once heard to say. " I was happier getting 
my wealth than I am in spending it." We have heard of 
other rich men saying the same thing ; but no man will say it 



MAKE, SAVE, GIVE ALL YOU CAN. 503 

who observes Wesley's rule, " Give all you can/' That is the 
heaven-ordained condition of enjoying the spending of a for- 
tune more than accumulating it. Cooper, Lawrence, and all 
that class of men, enjoyed spending their money far more 
than they did getting it, because a benevolent spirit controlled 
them. It is the liberal soul that is made fat ; the stingy soul 
is made lean. They could almost say with Mark Antony, " I 
have lost all except what I have given away.'' What is dis- 
pensed by well-directed benevolence is not lost, it is invested. 
It will yield a constant income. " Give, and it shall be given 
unto you ; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, 
and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with 
the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to 
you again." It is good measure when we get that which is 
"pressed down, shaken together, and running over"; and 
that is what genuine benevolence receives every time. There- 
fore, our charities should be reckoned as investments. The 
remainder of our property may " take to itself wings and fly 
away " ; but this, never. Money judiciously given away is safe. 
Abbott Lawrence, brother of Amos, was another merchant 
prince of Boston who reduced Wesley's rule to practice. His 
pastor related the following : "As I was standing just beneath 
the pulpit at the close of the funeral, a gentleman, whom I saw 
at once was a clergyman, came, and, addressing me by name, 
asked if he might speak to me a moment. My reply was : 
' Can you not choose some other time ? I cannot attend to 
any business amid this scene, and with that body lying there/ 
His answer was as rapid as he could speak, as if his heart were 
bursting for utterance, and with tears streaming down his 
cheeks : ' I must leave the city at two o'clock, and must speak 
now. It is of him who has left that body that I would speak. 
Eighteen years ago I was a poor boy in this city, without 
means and without friends. I was a member of the Mechanics' 
Apprentices' Association. Mr. Lawrence came to one of our 
meetings, and heard me deliver an essay I had written. He 
spoke to me afterward, inquired into my circumstances and 
character. I made known to him my wants and wishes, and 
he furnished me with means to acquire an education. When 
prepared, he told me that Harvard College was best, but to go 
to what college I liked. I went to the Wesleyan University, 
and he supported me there. I am now a minister of the 



504 LEADERS OF MEN. 

gospel in the state of New York. Seeing his death in the 
paper, and a notice of the funeral to-day, I came on to attend 
it. He was my greatest benefactor. I owe it to him that I 
am a minister of the gospel of Christ, and I am not the only 
one he has thus helped. God will accept him. I felt that I 
must say this to some one ; to whom can I better say it than to 
his pastor ? ' And with this he hurried away, leaving me only 
time to learn his name, and to receive from him a kind prom- 
ise to write to me.*' There is only one way of making such 
men : apply Wesley's rule. 

Opposers of the rule " Give all you can, " plead " Charity 
begins at home," and it usually ends there with those who 
make this plea. It has been styled " a neat pocket edition of 
covetousness," and really means that selfishness begins at 
home ; and where selfishness begins, charity ends. Behind 
this maxim thousands have intrenched themselves against 
every appeal of benevolence, presenting a striking contrast 
with the noble-hearted man who was asked, " Have you not 
made yourself rich enough to retire from business ? " ''By 
no means," he replied ; " I am not rich enough yet to give one 
leaf of the catechism to each member of my family." "How 
large is your family?" his interrogator inquired. '"About 
fourteen hundred million." This contrast presents the essen- 
tial difference between selfishness and benevolence in practi- 
cal life. 

The spirit that gives all it can ennobles all other acts. In 
William Carey it manifested itself early toward companions 
and friends, and those who were poor like himself : and later 
in life it stood forth grandly in his great missionary labors in 
the East, where he literally spared not himself in toiling for 
the good of others. It is an interesting fact that he was the 
son of a very humble shoemaker, and the two men who sup- 
ported him in the foreign missionary field were extremely 
poor in their boyhood, — one of them was the son of a carpen- 
ter, and the other of a weaver,— all three growing into man- 
hood with this noble attribute beautifying their lives. The 
money of the two, with the personal labors of the third, estab- 
lished a magnificent college at Serampore, planted sixteen 
missionary stations, translated the Bible into sixteen lan- 
guages, and inaugurated a grand moral revolution in British 
India. 



PART THREE. 

LEADERS IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL 

LIFE. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

ANDREW CARNEGIE. 

MR. CARNEGIE ON SUCCESS — HIS EARLY BOYHOOD IN THE UNITED 

STATES — HIS BIRTHPLACE ANCESTRY MESSENGER BOY DEATH OF 

HIS FATHER LEARXS TELEGRAPHY — BECOMES AN EMPLOYEE OF THE 

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD SECRETARY TO THOMAS A. SCOTT A FIRST 

INVESTMENT DURING THE CIVIL WAR HOW HE BECAME CONNECTED 

WITH THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY HIS ORGANIZING ABILITY A 

MAGAZINE EPISODE HIS CAREFUL METHOD A GREAT TRAVELER HIS 

DEVOTION TO GOLF HIS BENEFACTIONS CHARACTERISTICS AS A THINKER, 

WRITER, AND SPEAKER HIS LITERARY WORK A FEW EXTRACTS HIS 

PERSONALITY SECRET OF HIS SUCCESS. HOW TO START IX LIFE. 

I congratulate poor young men upon being born to that 
ancient honorable degree that renders it necessary that they 
should devote themselves to hard work. A 
basket full of bonds is the heaviest basket a 
young man ever had to carry. He generally 
gets to staggering under it. There are credi- 
ble instances of such young men who have 
pressed to the front rank of our best and 
most useful citizens. These deserve great 
credit, but the vast majority of the sons of 
rich men are unable to resist the temptations 
to which wealth subjects them and sink into 
unworthy lives. 
I would almost as soon leave a young man a curse as 
burden him with the almighty dollar. It is not from this class 
that rivalry is to be feared. The partner's sons will not 
trouble you much, but look out that some boys poorer, much 
poorer, than yourself, whose parents cannot afford to give 
them like advantages — look out that such boys do not chal- 
lenge you at the post and pass you at the grand stand. Look 
out for the boy who has had to plunge into work direct from 
the common school and who begins by sweeping out the 
offices. He is the probable dark horse that you had better 
watch. 




508 . LEADERS OF MEN. 

To summarize the essential conditions necessary to suc- 
cess, I would say : Aim for the highest ; never enter the bar- 
room ; do not touch liquor, or, if at all, only at meals ; never 
speculate ; never endorse beyond your surplus cash fund ; 
make the firm's interest yours; break orders always to save 
owners ; concentrate ; put all your eggs in one basket and 
watch that basket ; expenditure always within revenue ; 
lastly, be not impatient, as Emerson says, " No one can cheat 
you out of ultimate success but yourself.'' 





N 1848 a young Scot of eleven, named Andrew Carnegie, 
whose family had just emigrated to America, got a job 
as a "bobbin boy*' in a cotton factory of Allegheny City. 
His wages were one dollar and twenty cents a week. For 
a quarter of a century that boy — changed to a man — dom- 
inated the vast steel industry of the United States ; the com- 
pany which he created and controlled, employs an army of 
fifty thousand men, operates nineteen separate furnaces of the 
largest size, with seven distinct great steel works and a score 
of finishing mills, owns two complete railroads, gas and 
coke companies, iron mines, docks, fleets, and other ramify- 
ing interests difficult even to catalogue, and was the gov- 
erning factor in the formation of the greatest corporation the 
world has ever known, the " billion dollar " United States 
steel corporation ; he himself has presented libraries, elabo- 
rate museums and other public institutions to more than a 
hundred and twenty cities and towns in the United States, 
England, and Scotland. 

Even such an inadequate statement calls aloud for details — 
unlike the case Mr. Carnegie himself tells of, where he was 
describing to his nephews the battle of Bannockburn: " ' There 
were the English and there stood the Scotch.' ' Which 
whipped, uncle ? ' cried the three at once — details unnec- 
essary ! " Let us glance, then, at the salient facts of the 
fifty years that have wrought so magical a transformation. 
The elder Carnegie was a master weaver of Dunfermline, 



ANDREW CARNEGIE. 509 

Scotland. When the newly invented steam machinery drove 
him and his four hand looms out of business, he and his wife 
with their two boys decided to follow some relatives across 
the ocean to America. They loved their native land as good 
Scots do ; but " it will be better for the boys,'" they agreed, 
and that settled it. There is a fine humor in the thought that 
steam machinery took away young Andrew Carnegie's liveli- 
hood and drove him over seas to Pittsburg ! It is like the man 
in the Eastern tale whose enemy sent a Jinn to destroy him, but 
who mastered the Jinn instead and made it give him domin- 
ion over the whole world. 

His very first step was to become acquainted with this new 
force in the world of industry which was overthrowing the 
old order of things and had incidentally ruined his family. 
He started to work in a steam cotton factory, tending bob- 
bins. In less than a year he had been taken from the factory 
by one who had noticed the boy, and, in the new works, he 
learned how to run the engine and was promoted to this 
work, his salary of twenty cents a day not being increased, 
until he did clerical work for his employer as well — for he 
had some knowledge of arithmetic and wrote a good hand. 

Here is his own account of his next step, when he became 
a messenger boy in the Ohio Telegraph Company : — 

£, I awake from a dream that has carried me away back to 
the days of early boyhood, the day when the little white- 
haired Scotch laddie, dressed in a blue jacket, walked with 
his father into the telegraph office at Pittsburg to undergo 
examination as applicant for position of messenger boy. 
. . . . If you want an idea of heaven upon earth, imagine 
what it was to be taken from a dark cellar, where I fired the 
boiler from morning till night, and dropped into the office, 
where light shone from all sides, and around me books, papers, 
and pencils in profusion, and oh ! the tick of those mysterious 
brass instruments on the desk annihilating space and stand- 
ing with throbbing spirits ready to convey the intelligence to 
the world. This was my first glimpse of Paradise." 

Shortly after this his father died, and at the age of four- 
teen the boy became the sole support of his mother and 
younger brother. But the weight on his shoulders was merely 
a spur to his ambition. He had not been in the office a month 
when he began to learn telegraphy, and a little friendly 
instruction soon had him spending all his spare minutes at 



510 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the key. Characteristically, he was not content with the 
general custom of receiving by the tape, but doggedly mas- 
tered the clicking tongue of the instrument, until the sup- 
posed insecurity of taking messages by sound was found not 
to apply to him. He became an operator presently at a salary 
which seemed to him princely, though he augmented even 
this twenty-five dollars a month by copying telegraphic news 
for the daily papers. 

There is almost a monotony about the story of such a 
man's career ; everything he worked at he did better than his 
older and more experienced companions, — and his success 
shot upward like Jack's beanstalk. When the Pennsylvania 
Railroad needed an operator, " Andy " was chosen as a matter 
of course ; and here his field of endeavor began to broaden 
rapidly. He relates graphically his first experience as a cap- 
italist : — 

" One day Mr. Scott (the superintendent of his division), 
who was the kindest of men and had taken a great fancy to 
me, asked if I had or could find five hundred dollars to invest. 
. . . I answered promptly : — 

" 'Yes, sir, I think I can.' 

" 'Very well,' he said, 'get it. A man has just died who 
owns ten shares in the Adams Express Company, which I 
want you to buy. It will cost you sixty dollars per share.' 



" The matter was laid before the council of three that 
night, and the oracle spoke. 'Must be done. Mortgage our 
house. I will take the steamer in the morning for Ohio and 
see uncle, and ask him to arrange it. I am sure he can.' Of 
course her visit was successful — where did she ever fail ? 

"The money was procured; paid over; ten shares of 
Adams Express Company stock was mine, but no one knew 
our little home had been mortgaged ' to give our boy a start." 

"Adams Express then paid monthly dividends of one per 
cent., and the first check arrived. . . . 

"The next day being Sunday, we boys — myself and my 
ever-constant companions — took our usual Sunday afternoon 
stroll in the country, and sitting down in the woods I showed 
them this check, saying, ' Eureka ! we have found ii.' 

" Here was something new to all of us, for none of us had 
ever received anything but from toil. A return from capital 
was something strange and new." 

As soon as he had learned all there was to know about train 
dispatching, he began to improve on the existing methods ; 
he became a picked man ; Colonel Scott selected him for his 



ANDREW CARNEGIE. 511 

secretary ; and before long, when Colonel Scott advanced to 
the vice-presidency of the road, the young man found him- 
self superintendent of the Pennsylvania's Western Division. 
Again his opportunities multiplied — and Andrew Carnegie 
always had the eye of a hawk for an opportunity. 

One day as the young superintendent was examining the 
line from a rear car, a tall, thin man stepped up to him, intro- 
duced himself as T. T. Woodruff, an inventor, and asked if 
he might show him an idea he had for a car to accommodate 
passengers at night. Out came a model from a green baize 
bag. 

" He had not spoken a minute, before, like a flash, the 
whole range of the discovery burst upon me. ' Yes,' I said, 
' that is something which this continent must have.' 

" Upon my return I laid it before Mr. Scott, declaring that 
it was one of the inventions of the age. He remarked : ' You 
are enthusiastic, young man, but you may ask the inventor 
to come and let me see it.' I did so, and arrangements were 
made to build two trial cars, and run them on the Pennsylva- 
nia Railroad. I was offered an interest in the venture, which, 
of course, I gladly accepted. . . . 

"The notice came that my share of the first payment was 
$217.50 — as far beyond my means as if it had been millions. 
I was earning $50 per month, however, and had prospects, or 
at least I always felt that I had. I decided to call on the local 
banker and boldly ask him to advance the sum upon my 
interest in the affair. He put his hand on my shoulder and 
said : ' Why, of course, Andy, you are all right. Go ahead ! 
Here is the money.' .... The cars paid the subsequent 
payments from their earnings. I paid my first note from my 
savings, so much per month, and thus did I get my foot upon 
fortune's ladder. It is easy to climb after that. And thus 
came sleeping cars into the world." 

Then came the Civil War, and Mr. Carnegie's constant 
friend, Colonel Scott, now became Assistant Secretary of War 
and placed him in charge of the military railroads and tele- 
graph lines. His expert knowledge, indomitable courage, 
and energy made him invaluable. He is said to have been 
the third man wounded on the Union side (being injured while 
trying to free the track into Washington from obstructing 
wires) ; he did yeoman's service at Bull Run ; and he over- 



512 LEADERS OE MEN. 

worked himself so pitilessly that his health broke down, and 
he was forced to go abroad for the winter. 

But the man had not yet struck his true vocation. That 
came presently, when his attention was drawn to the wooden 
bridges universally used at that time. The Pennsylvania 
road was experimenting with a cast-iron bridge. Young 
Carnegie — he was still under twenty-five — grasped the situ- 
ation with one of the sudden inspirations that characterize 
his forceful intellect. The day of the wooden bridge was 
past ; the iron structure must supersede it. Some men might 
have stopped there. Andrew Carnegie went out and formed 
a company to build iron bridges. 

He had to raise twelve hundred and fifty dollars, but he 
had behind him the confidence of a Pittsburg banker, and this 
proved easy. So the Keystone Bridge Works came into being. 

From this time on, the name of Andrew Carnegie is 
inseparably associated with that astonishing development of 
American iron and steel, which is among the modern won- 
ders of the world. The Keystone Company built the first 
great bridge over the Ohio river ; and the Union Iron Mills 
appeared in a few years as the natural outgrowth of this ram- 
ifying industry. Then, in 1868, Mr. Carnegie went to Eng- 
land. The Bessemer process of making steel rails had lately 
been perfected. The English railways were replacing their 
iron rails with steel ones as rapidly as possible. The English 
manufacturers were beginning to whisper to each other that 
they had firm grip of a gigantic revolutionizing idea. The 
young Scotchman went back to Pittsburg, and before the 
Englishmen were well aware of his existence he laid the 
foundation of the steel works which have now finally beaten 
them at their own game. 

The Ironmaster was now fairly launched on his life work. 
He bought up the Homestead Works, his most formidable 
rival ; by 1888 he held in the hollow of his hand seven huge 
plants, all within five miles of Pittsburg, which he proceeded 
to forge and amalgamate into a steel-armored giant, called 
the Carnegie Steel Company, the like of which the world had 
not before seen. At the beck and call of this Titan are fifty 
thousand men, and great machines which dash down with 
the force of a hundred tons, or descend so gently as to rest 
upon an eggshell without cracking it. Other products of 



ANDREW CARNEGIE. 513 

man's ingenuity tear the ore from the bowels of the earth ; 
it goes to'the company's furnaces and converters on the com- 
pany's railroads ; out flow millions of tons of iron and steel ; 
electric cranes catch up great masses of two hundred tons 
each, carrying them hither and thither, arranging, assem- 
bling : rails and bridges and armor-plate and all the other 
myriad manifestations of iron's utility are hurried forth in 
endless procession to every part of the globe ; vast coke and 
coal fields, mines, docks, ships, gas fields, — all these are merely 
incidental and casual stones in the rearing of this edifice ; 
and it gives one a new comprehension of the mental possibil- 
ities of one's fellows even to follow in the track of the mind 
which conceived and built up this overwhelming incarnation 
of modern industrialism. 

Confronted with such a record of achievement as this, 
there is an instinctive demand for something which will help 
the hearer to grasp the personality of the genius behind it. 
One's'mind cannot be satisfied until it has traced this lordly 
commerce-tearing river to its source. What was it in that 
Scotch boy which promised this mighty hive of industry as 
surely as the acorn promises the oak ? Here is what he says 
himself : — 

"Take away all our factories, our trade, our avenues of 
transportation, our money ; leave me our organization, and in 
four years I shall have reestablished myself." 

There is something thrillingly dramatic about that. It 
voices the large poise and confidence of that type of genius 
which recognizes the limitations of any one human being, and 
consequently builds with men as the machinist builds with 
iron, — here a cog, a governor, a fly-wheel, — until he has 
solved the secret of perpetual motion, for he has brought into 
being a self-directing, self-supporting, self-renewing organi- 
zation, attracting to itself other human atoms, and merely 
gaining force and irresistible impetus as the years roll on. 

Mr. Carnegie is fond of telling how he was once asked by 
the editor of a popular magazine for an article on Organiza- 
tion in Business. 

" Well," said he, " I think I could write that article*. But 
I'm afraid the price I 'd have to ask you would be too high." 

" Oh ! no," said the delighted editor, with a vision of a mag- 
nificent " feature " in an early number : " I 'm sure we could 
arrange that satisfactorily. Name your own figure." 



514 LEADERS OF MEN. 

•' Well," replied Mr. Carnegie, " I could hardly afford to 
do it for less than five million dollars." He smiled «a little at 
the sight of the editors face, and then went on : " No, I must 
withdraw that. What I should put into it has cost me much 
more than that, and of course you would not expect me to sell 
it to you at less than cost." 

As the diplomatist puts it, " The negotiations fell through." 

Probably in his case this faculty is even more fundamental 
than the cardinal qualities of concentration, industry, intelli- 
gence, and thrift which he enumerates as the requisites of 
success. He could not be a mere " hewer of wood and drawer 
of water" with his capacity for attracting, holding, and 
developing men of exceptional ability in every department of 
business. His partners in his famous company numbered 
forty odd, all young men — "My indispensable and clever 
partners," he calls them, "some of whom had been my boy 
companions, I am delighted to say, some of the very boys who 
had met in the grove to wonder at the ten-dollar check." 

Charles M. Schwab, head of the new United States steel 
corporation, is a typical example of the sort of men whom he 
has developed. Almost every year new names are added to 
this list ; for although Mr. Carnegie "never helps a man," he 
founded his whole business upon the principle of making the 
man help himself, and then giving him the fullest chance to 
use and develop his abilities. No favoritism, and a share of 
the business for those who make the business, have been his 
watchwords. "My partners," he says, "are not only part- 
ners, but a band of devoted friends who never have a differ- 
ence. I have never had to exercise my power, and of this I 
am very proud. Nothing is done without a unanimous vote, 
and I am not even a manager or director. I throw the 
responsibility upon others and allow them full swing." 

A recent writer says : — 

" Although Mr. Carnegie is not even a manager or director, 
his judgment is largely depended upon for the solution of 
questions that require sagacity and foresight, and he is fre- 
quently consulted by his fellow partners, usually by telegraph, 
as he is no longer a resident of Pittsburg. Every day, in 
whatever part of the world he may be, a tabulated form care- 
fully filled up, giving the product and details of every depart- 
ment of the works, is mailed to him, thus enabling him to keep 
thoroughly in touch with his business." 

He shows the same admirable acumen, common sense, and 



ANDREW CARNEGTE. 515 

fairness in dealing with his great body of employees. They, 
too, have been partners in the business, for in 1890 he intro- 
duced a sliding scale of payment by which a minimum was 
guaranteed, and every worker, no matter how humble his 
capacity, shared in the profits of prosperous times which he 
helped to produce. 

His vade mecum is a big chest of drawers, each one devoted 
to papers on some special subject ; for. like most men of his 
caliber, when he wants information he wants it at once. 
Says a writer who walked through his library and office at 
Skibo, speaking of this cabinet of papers : — 

"Every drawer has its label — ' The Carnegie Steel Com- 
pany Reports,' ' paid bills,' ' correspondence about libraries,' 
'grants, etc.,' 'other donations,' 'applications for aid,' 'mis- 
cellaneous,' ' social,' ' autograph letters to keep,' ' publication 
articles,' 'correspondence about yachts, launches, etc.,' 'Skibo 
estate,' ' Pittsburg Institute,' and so on, and so on. We 
looked from the little labels that told of all things done in 
order and nothing forgotten, and then to the Remington type- 
writer on the big writing table and the sheets of ' shorthand ' 
lying before it ; to the piles of books from ' The Gospel of 
Wealth ' to ' An American Four-in-hand in Britain ' ; to the 
maps hanging on the wall and door back, with little flag pins 
to mark where the interest of the moment was centered. We 
almost grasped the secret of the making of a millionaire." 

But right here is manifested the quality which makes 
Andrew Carnegie much larger and more rounded than a mere 
steel magnate -or business genius. He has never been con- 
tented to sink himself entirely even in these tremendous 
enterprises which would seem to demand any man's last 
ounce of energy and concentration. Long before he became 
a rich man he showed his admirable balance in this respect. 
We have seen that he was a hard worker, but he never 
"ground" his mind and spirit to the exclusion of sport and 
pleasure. A friend who knew him as superintendent of the 
Pennsylvania's Western Division tells how he would have 
the conductors and brakemen gather information for him 
about the best fishing places along their routes. His visits of 
inspection were then so arranged that he could disappear for 
half a day or more at a time, and industriously whip these 
streams in search of trout and bass. His fondness for this 
sport has stuck by him all his life, and to it among other 
things he owes his acquaintance with his great friend Herbert 






510 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Spencer. These two hardened anglers are accustomed, when 
they get together, to exchange "ideas about the sort of fly 
most desirable to use in complicated cases, and to try to rea- 
son out the fish's mental attitude when it sees the fisherman's 
bait." 

Sixty trips across the ocean, a journey around the world, 
and expeditions to the North Cape, China, Japan, and Mexico, 
are a record eloquent in themselves that he does not " work 
hard " in the sense in which most American men of affairs 
understand that phrase. His mail now averages from three 
hundred to six hundred letters a day, and while a capable 
private secretary and a yawning waste-paper basket absorb by 
far the larger portion of this mass of correspondence, he is 
nevertheless called upon to transact a huge amount of busi- 
ness. But he never permits the load to become an Old Man 
of the Sea. In the library of his home he attends to the 
necessary things in less time than most business men expend 
in traveling to and from their offices, and like Napoleon real- 
izes that a fortnight answers more letters than he does. 

Often he will go away all day to play golf, which he jok- 
ingly declares to be the only " serious business of life.'' A 
correspondent once went to Cumberland Island, his sister's 
home, on the Georgia coast, to interview him on some event 
of tremendous importance in the world of steel. He found 
him on the golf links, and fired at him, point blank, a long 
list of carefully prepared questions concerning this matter. 
Mr. Carnegie listened with patience till the newspaper man 
had finished then he broke out : — 

" Oh, I don't know anything about all that ; but yesterday 
I broke my record. I just went around this course in five 
strokes less than ever before." 

A fellow enthusiast at the game declares that Mr. Carnegie 
never tires of talking about it. He says : "I think it is a 
great pity that he had not begun golf in his earlier days,— a 
time when he was busy as a telegraph boy, doing the ele- 
mental things which have made him the man he is. Being a 
Scotchman, he has the keenest appreciation of anyone who 
can play the ancient and royal game with skill." He once 
said to a friend who was playing golf with him, and who 
happened to make a long stroke off the tee, that for the joy of 
making one such drive the payment of ten thousand dollars 



ANDREW CARNEGIE. 517 

would be cheap. At Skibo he has golf links of his own, and 
plays there with his friends, and in the long twilights the 
game lasts till dinner time, or even up to half-past eight 
o'clock. One day in the winter he had made up his mind to 
devote the day to playing golf, but when the morning came, 
although it was bright and sharp, the thermometer was at six 
above zero. He was not to be debarred, however, from his 
anticipated round, and spent the day at St. Andrew's, near 
Yonkers, on the links, though everything was frozen up tight. 
He came home bright and happy, saying it was one of the 
best golf days he ever had in his life ! 

Besides his golf and fishing, and his well known pastime 
of coaching, he walks and drives when in New York or at 
Skibo Castle, and he greatly enjoys steam yachting, calling a 
sea voyage his panacea for every ill. He tells a story on 
himself in this connection. Leaving for Scotland later than 
usual one spring, he met old Captain Jones, superintendent of 
one of the Edgar Thomson plants, and began to express his 
sympathy that the latter should have to stay there in the hot 
weather with his many thousands of workmen. 

" I 'm very sorry you can't all go away, too," he declared. 
" Captain, you don't know the complete relief I get when out- 
side of Sandy Hook I begin to breast the salt breezes." 

"And oh, Lord !" replied the quick-witted captain, "think 
of the relief we all get." 

Next to his fame as the "Steel King," Mr. Carnegie is 
undoubtedly most widely known through his remarkable list 
of public benefactions in the shape of libraries and museums. 
These number over a hundred, ranging from a $15,000 free 
village library, to the magnificent Carnegie Institute at Pitts- 
burg, the enlargements of which alone are to cost $3,G00,000. 
Half a million people every year benefit by this library, with 
its 116,000 volumes, the splendid orchestra and art gallery, 
and the museum, which is rapidly developing into an educa- 
tional institution of the first rank. His latest and probably 
most noteworthy benefaction is a gift of $10,000,000 to found 
The Carnegie Institution in Washington. 

Mr. Carnegie has strongly stated his principles in regard 
to the use of surplus wealth : — 

" I have often said, and I now repeat, that the day is com- 
ing, and already we see its dawn, in which the man who dies 



518 LEADERS OF MEN. 

possessed of millions of available wealth which was free and 
in his hands ready to be distributed will die disgraced. Of 
course, I do not mean that the man in business may not be 
stricken down with his capital in the business which cannot 
be withdrawn, for capital is the tool with which he works his 
wonders and produces more wealth. I refer to the man who 
dies possessed of millions of securities which are held simply 
for the interest they produce, that he may add to his hoard of 
miserable dollars." 

He is no hypocrite ; he believes that a man who makes a 
fortune has every right to enjoy its benefits to the fullest extent 
of which he is capable, but he has always asserted and lived up 
to the principle that " surplus wealth " is to be regarded "asa 
sacred trust, to be administered by its possessor, into whose 
hands it flows, for the highest good of the people.'' He is not 
a "philanthropist " in the accepted sense, for he holds that 
"of every thousand dollars indiscriminately given, nine hun- 
dred and fifty had better have been thrown into the sea," and 
as he says in " Wealth and its Uses ":— 

" There is no use whatever, gentlemen, trying to help 
people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone 
up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself. 
When you stop boosting, he falls, to his injury." 

So in the matter of giving libraries he follows a very defi- 
nite rule. He never makes any stipulations that the library 
shall have a particular character ; all he insists on is that 
when he has founded it, it shall be supported by the people 
and shall be managed for the benefit of the whole community. 
His very first appearance in print was as a protestant against 
discrimination in reading facilities. A generous Colonel 
Anderson, of Allegheny, used to throw open his library to the 
working boys and men of the city. Young Carnegie was then 
telegraph operator, and upon finding himself debarred from 
the privileges through the donor's classification, he wrote 
such a burning and indignant appeal against the injustice of 
it that the restriction was removed and the library made free 
to all. He says somewhere : — 

"He had only about four hundred volumes, but I doubt if 
ever so few books were put to better use. Only he who has 
longed, as I did, for Saturday to come that the spring of 
knowledge should be opened anew to him, can understand 
what Colonel Anderson did for me and others of the boys of 
Allegheny, several of whom have risen to eminence. Is it 



ANDREW CAENEGIE. 519 

any wonder that I resolved that if surplus wealth ever came 
to me, I should use it in imitating my benefactor ? " 

Never has any resolve been carried to more complete 
fruition than this, and Mr. Carnegie has raised a memorial to 
his old benefactor in the library building which he has pre- 
sented to Emporia College, Kansas, and is erecting a monu- 
ment in his honor at -Allegheny City park. A friend says : — 

" The giving of libraries is his great pleasure and recre- 
ation. I have seen his eyes sparkle over a letter received 
from the people who have worked out the library problem in 
their town by his help and have got the institution running 
and doing much good. His pleasure in actually seeing the 
good that a library has accomplished through the efforts of 
others added to the original gift made by him, is only equaled 
by making a good drive on the golf links." 

Of course, in the large daily mail already referred to, library 
letters are most numerous, and if people realized how many 
impracticable, indirect, and foolish letters on this subject were 
received, they would see the importance of telling in a clear 
and businesslike way what is needed and why the gift should 
be bestowed. 

Mr. Carnegie is too good a business man simply to present 
money en masse. The usual procedure, after the money has 
been promised, is to have the plans made. The builders' esti- 
mates are prepared, and these having been approved by the 
town, are sent to Mr, Carnegie, who is very prompt in issuing 
instructions to honor the drafts of the town to pay for the 
building as it progresses. This does away with any confusion 
in connection with the funds and the successful completion of 
the enterprise. 

Mr. Carnegie's great fondness for music has diverted a por- 
tion of this stream of benefaction ; he has quietly presented 
organs to one church after another, until now the number is 
perhaps three hundred. He often says he will be responsible 
for all the organs say, but would hesitate to indorse the 
preachers without limitations. Mr. Carnegie is fond of point- 
ing out that theology and religion are different things — one 
being only the work of man. 

One might reasonably fancy that the diverse activities 
already chronicled were sufficient even for an extraordinary 
man, but Mr. Carnegie has made himself in addition an envia- 
ble reputation as a clear thinker and a forceful writer and 



520 LEADERS OF MEN. 

speaker. His first volumes, " Notes of a Trip Round the 
World" (1879), and "Our Coaching Trip" (1882), were origi- 
nally printed for private circulation only, but the demand for 
them proved so great that they were subsequently published 
regularly — after the author had been forced to give away fif- 
teen hundred copies of the later work by the incessant 
requests for it. His " Triumphal Democracy " came out in 
1880, reaching a circulation of forty thousand copies in the 
first two years, and this volume, with his many later pam- 
phlets and magazine articles, has amply proved his wide read- 
ing, sound reasoning, and ability to hit hard. He is thor- 
oughly democratic, and believes in the United States and its 
future with a fervor which has often inspired him to elo- 
quence. Always an omnivorous reader and with a natural 
taste for the enduring literature of all ages, he is particu- 
larly devoted to Shakespeare. A reading of some part of a 
play of Shakespeare is almost a daily pleasure, and, like most 
Shakespeare enthusiasts, he is forever being reminded of 
some passage by the most casual incident ; and again, like 
enthusiasts, he likes to quote the whole passage suggested 
with his own interpretation of the dramatist's meaning. 

It is really wonderful to think of the energy and thirst for 
knowledge which could produce such general literary culture 
in so busy a man, — starting at fourteen with only a common 
school education and a mother and brother to provide for 
besides himself. 

In looking over Mr. Carnegie's writings one cannot fail to 
be struck by the terseness, felicity, and "pith "of many of 
his phrases. It is not the studied elegance of the stylist, but 
the epigrammatic expression of a vigorous personality. Here 
are a few extracts taken at random : — 

"If a man would eat, he must work. A life of elegant 
leisure is the life of an unworthy citizen. The Republic does 
not owe him a living ; it is he who owes the Republic a life of 
usefulness. Such is the Republican idea." — Triumphant 
Democracy. 

"In looking back you never feel that upon any occasion 
you have acted too generously, but you often regret that you 
did not give enough." — An American Four-in-Hand in 
Britain. 

"Among the saddest of all spectacles to me is that of an 



ANDREW CARNEGIE. 521 

elderly man occupying his last years grasping for more dol- 
lars.'' — An American Four-in-Hand in Britain. 

"The Monarchist boasts more bayonets, the Republican 
more books." — Triumphant Democracy. 

"There are a thousand heroines in the world to-day for 
every one any preceding age has produced." — Triumphant 
Democracy. 

" Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your 
secret reveries that you were born to control affairs." — Curry 
Commercial College, Pittsburg, June 23, 1885. 

" A great thing this instantaneous photography ; one has 
not time to look his very worst." — An American Four-in- 
Hand in Britain. 

" But Eve was not used to kind treatment. Adam was 
by no means a modern model husband, and never gave Eve 
anything in excess except blame." — An American Four-in- 
Hand in Britain. 

" People never appreciate what is wholly given to them so 
highly as that to which they themselves contribute.'' — An 
American Four-in-Hand in Britain. 

" The instinct which led the slaveholder to keep his slave 
in ignorance was a true one. Educate man, his shackles 
fall." — Triumphant Democracy. 

" There is no price too dear to pay for perfection." — Round 
the World. 

" Without wealth there can be no Maecenas." — The Gospel 
of Wealth. 

" In -my wildest and most vindictive moments I have never 
gone so far as to wish that the Irish landlords, as a class, had 
justice." — Speech at Glasgow, September 13, 1887. 

"I hope Americans will find some day more time for play, 
like their wiser brethren upon the other side.'' — An American 
Four-in-Hand in Britain. 

" There is always peace at the end if we do our appointed 
work and leave the result with the Unknown." — An Ameri- 
can Four-in-Hand in Britain. 

" Be king in one line, not a Jack at all trades." 

"For Heaven our Home, substitute Home our Heaven." 

"Break orders to save owners every time." 

Curry Address. 

"Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that 
basket." — Curry Institute Address, 1885. 

Andrew Carnegie to-day is more active and vigorous than 



522 LEADERS OF MEN. 

most men of half his age both at his work and his recreations. 
He is rather small physically, but tireless in his sports. 
Though his hair is now white, there is a light in his eye, and 
a sense of power in his face, bearing, and erect carriage, 
which bear evidence to his splendid vitality of mind and 
body. 

He has a profound admiration for the men who really do 
things, with an emphasis on the "do," which, as is his habit, 
he often illustrates by a good story. An old friend of his in 
Pittsburg, who kept his fast trotters and held the record, was 
beaten in a brush by a young man. The old gentleman disap- 
peared for some time. He had gone to Kentucky to get a 
horse that would reestablish his supremacy. He was being- 
shown over a stud, and had already been past a long string of 
horses with their records on the stall, and the victories they 
had won. Then he was taken through a long line of young 
horses with their pedigrees, from which the dealer was prov- 
ing what they were going to do when they got on the track. 
The old gentleman wiping his forehead — for it was a hot 
day — suddenly turned to the dealer and said : — 

"Look here, stranger, — you've shown me ' have beens,' 
and you 've let me see your ' going to be's,' but I am here for 
an ' iser.' " 

One who has known him says : "A friend is struck most 
strongly, in coining into association with Mr. Carnegie, by 
the force and tenacity of his own convictions. When he has 
thought out a thing, he knows that he is right, and he will 
fight to the bitter end. To say that he has the courage of his 
convictions'is not more than half telling the story ; he has the 
courage of ten men for one conviction, and, one rather 
suspects, thoroughly enjoys defending his own side. In the 
case of the South African War and the Philippines he was 
most violently against many of his best friends. He was 
a friend of the Boer and a friend of the Filipino, and he 
collected a tremendous amount of printed matter on these 
subjects, from which he informed himself so minutely as to 
render him a formidable opponent on either question.'' 

Unlike many men of large deeds, he is a great talker, and 
his well rounded mind, unusual versatility, quick interest, 
and fund of humorous stories make him the best of com- 
panions. He is never at a loss, and is equally at home " jolly- 



ANDREW CARNEGIE. 523 

ing" the dry goods men at an Arkwright Club dinner or 
giving sound advice to Mr. John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s Bible 
class. 

With all his enormous wealth he takes pleasure in the 
simplest things, provided they are genuine. While a frequent 
visitor at the opera, he owns no box, but sits in the body of 
the house. He has traveled widely, yet he does not own a pri- 
vate car, adhering to the democratic principles that he has so 
forcibly laid down. He has the truly great physical ability of 
going to sleep at will, and in the intervals of important duties 
he will drop off in a short sleep, gaining refreshment denied 
to most men. 

His sympathy is always with any man, particularly a 
young man, who is hammering away honestly to make his 
success. A friend says of him : — 

"Andrew Carnegie has none of the arrogance of wealth, 
and his kindliness of spirit goes out most warmly to the peo- 
ple who are struggling to get ahead in the world, whether in 
business, in education, musical study, or, indeed, any direc- 
tion. As an instance of this, I know of a case where a young 
man was leaving a position which he had filled successfully 
for a good many years, to start in business on his own account, 
sacrificing a large salary and risking all. Mr. Carnegie, hear- 
ing of this, and knowing the young man slightly, wrote him 
a letter out of pure kindliness, congratulating him on making 
the change, and prophesying a success. This letter was timed 
to arrive when it would" do most good,— the moment when 
the difficulties of the struggle seemed most trying. The young 
man of this instance gained a confidence and a wholesome 
faith in himself, which has been of the utmost value to him." 

One secret of Mr. Carnegie's success is his profound confi- 
dence in the people whom he has gathered about him. He does 
things which a stranger would pronounce unbusinesslike and 
careless ; but that stranger would be struck, upon investiga- 
tion, by the fact that never once had this habit gotten him into 
trouble. He acts on the principle that to trust a man in itself 
goes a long way toward making him worthy of trust, — and 
his judgment of men is so keen that he trusts the right man. 

Eminently broad-minded, Mr. Carnegie believes in all 
religions, but in no theologies. He has great sympathy, for 
instance, with a young Chinaman who came to him, heart- 
broken, because he had been told by the missionary that his 
fathers had been heathen for centuries, and that his children 



524 LEADERS OF MEN. 

were idolaters, and that they would surely be found in the 
place of everlasting punishment ! He sees the good in the 
religion of Confucius, of Buddha, and, in fact, all the sects, 
Oriental and Western. He is not a contributor to foreign mis- 
sions, and confines his giving to directions in which he is 
familiar, and of which he has knowledge. 

It is a pleasant picture this, of a sturdy, forceful, large- 
minded man, putting the whole energy of his nature into 
carrying out great enterprises, or playing golf, or writing 
books, or fishing, or coaching, or placing the means of self- 
education within the reach of millions of his fellow men. 
Surely he is a fine specimen of the modern Citizen of the 
Republic. 

The first volume of his life is closed, and the poor bobbin 
factory boy retires from business, as Mr. Morgan says, "the 
richest man in the world," all made in legitimate manufactur- 
ing, never a share sold or bought on the stock exchange. 
This is a "record breaker"; but what if the last volume of 
this man's life is to render the other, marvelous though it be, 
comparatively unimportant ? Others have made great for- 
tunes, though less in amount ; but it is often said of Mr. 
Carnegie that he never does things like other men : will he 
give the world a last volume more surprising than the first ? 
There are those who so believe, but that is another story. We 
must await developments. 

HOW TO START IN LIFE. 

HE first great lesson a young man should learn is that 
he knows nothing : and the earlier and more thor- 
oughly this lesson is learned, the better it will be for 
his peace of mind and success in life. A young man 
bred at home, and growing up in the light of parental admi- 
ration and parental pride, cannot readily understand how it is 
that every one else can be his equal in talent and acquisition. 
If, bred in the country, he seeks the life of the town, he will 
very early obtain an idea of his insignificance. 

This is a critical period in his history. The result of his 
reasoning will decide his fate. If, at this time, he thoroughly 
comprehends, and in his heart admits and accepts the fact, 
that he knows nothing and is nothing ; if he bows to the con- 
viction that his mind and his person are but ciphers among 




ANDREW CARNEGIE. 



HOW TO START IN LIFE. 527 

the significant and cleanly-cut figures about him, and that 
whatever he is to be, and is to win, must be achieved by hard 
work, there is abundant hope of him. If, on the contrary, 
a huge self-conceit still holds possession of him, and he 
straightens up to the assertion of his cold and valueless self ; 
or if he sink discouraged upon the threshold of a life of fierce 
competitions and more manly emulations, he may as well be 
a dead man. The world has no use for such a man, and he 
has only to retire, or submit to be trodden upon. 

When a young man has thoroughly comprehended the 
fact that he knows nothing, and that, intrinsically, he is of 
but little value, the next thing for him to learn is that the 
world cares nothing for him ; that he is the subject of no 
man's overwhelming admiration and esteem ; that he must 
take care of himself. A letter of introduction may possibly 
procure him an invitation to tea, and nothing more. If he be 
a stranger, he will find every man busy with his own affairs, 
and none to look after him. He will not be noticed until he 
becomes noticeable, until he has done something to prove that 
he has an absolute value in society. No letter of recommen- 
dation will give him this, or ought to give him this. 

Society demands that a young man shall be not only 
somebody, but that he shall prove his right to the title ; and 
it has a right to demand this. Society will not take this 
matter upon trust — at least not for a long time, for it has 
been deceived too often. Society is not very particular what 
a man does, so that it prove him to be a man ; then it will 
bow to him, and make room for him. A young man, not 
long since, made a place for himself by writing an article 
for a certain review. Few people read the article, but the 
fact that he wrote such an article, that it was very long, and 
that it was published, did the business for him. Everybody, 
however, cannot write articles for reviews, although every 
person at some period of his life thinks he can ; but every- 
body, who is somebody, can do something. A man must 
enter society of his own free will, as an active element, or a 
valuable component, before he can receive the recognition 
that every true man longs for. A man who is willing to 
enter society as a beneficiary is mean, and does not deserve 
recognition. 

There is no surer sign of an unmanly and cowardly spirit 



528 LEADERS OF MEN. 

than a vague desire for help ; a wish to depend, to lean 
upon somebody, and enjoy the fruits of the industry of 
others. There are multitudes of young men who indulge in 
dreams of help from some quarter, coming in at a con- 
venient moment, to enable them to secure the success in life 
which they covet. The vision haunts them of some benev- 
olent old gentleman, with a pocketful of money, a trunkful 
of mortgages and stocks, and a mind remarkably apprecia- 
tive of merit and genius, who will, perhaps, give or lend 
them money with which they will commence life and go on 
swimmingly. Perhaps his benevolence will take a different 
turn and he will educate them. Or, perhaps, with an eye to 
the sacred profession, they desire to become the beneficiaries 
of some benevolent institution. 

One of the most disagreeable sights in the world is that of 
a young man with healthy blood, broad shoulders, and good 
bone and muscle, standing with his hands in his pockets, look- 
ing and longing for help. Of course, there are positions in 
which the most independent spirit may accept of assistance — 
nay, in fact, as a choice of evils, desire it ; but for a man 
who is able to help himself to desire the help of others in 
the accomplishment of his plans of life, is positive proof 
that he has received a most unfortunate training, or that 
there is a leaven of meanness in his composition that should 
make him shudder. Do not misunderstand : that pride of 
personal independence should not be inculcated which 
repels in its sensitiveness the well-meant good offices and 
benefactions of friends, or that resorts to desperate shifts 
rather than incur an obligation. The thing to be condemned 
in a young man is the love of dependence, the willingness 
to be under obligation for that which his own effort may 
win. 

Church societies and kindred organizations sometimes do 
much more harm than good, by inviting into the Christian 
ministry a class of young men who are willing to be helped. 
A man who willingly receives assistance, especially if he has 
applied for it, invariably sells himself to his benefactor, unless 
that benefactor happen to be a man of sense who is giving 
absolutely necessary assistance to one whom he knows to be 
sensitive and honorable. Any young man who will part with 
freedom and the self-respect that grows out of self-reliance 



HOW TO START IN LIFE. 529 

and self-support, is unmanly, neither deserving of assistance 
nor capable of making good use of it. Assistance will invari- 
ably be received by a young man of spirit as a dire neces- 
sity — as the chief evil of his poverty. 

When, therefore, a young man has ascertained and fully 
realized the fact that he does not know anything ; that the 
world does not care anything about him ; that what he wins 
must be gained by his own brain and hands, and that while he 
holds in his own power the means of gaining his own liveli- 
hood and the objects of his life, he cannot receive assistance 
without compromising his self-respect and selling his free- 
dom, he is in a fair position for beginning life. When a 
young man becomes aware that only by his own efforts can 
he rise into companionship and competition with the shrewd, 
sharp, strong, and well-drilled minds around him, he is ready 
for work, and not before. 

Indeed, what many people consider a good start in the 
world may prove the poorest start of all. A capital of ten 
thousand dollars, inherited, or loaned by some rich friend, 
may prove less fortunate for a young man than poverty and 
a good character. 

There can be no doubt that money capital that is earned 
before it is used, serves the business man a higher purpose 
than the same amount of capital inherited or borrowed. 
Earning the capital is a good start of itself. It booms the 
noblest qualities of manhood. 

Principle alone is a good start, and will earn a good name 
more surely and quickly than money. " Good principles and 
good habits were all the capital I had to start with," said 
Amos Lawrence, and it was all the capital he needed, as his 
successful career proved. At one time he wrote to his son 
who was in France : — 

•'Good principles, good temper, and good manners will 
carry a man through the world much better than he can get 
along with the absence of either. The most important is 
good principles. Without them, the best maners, although 
for a time very acceptable, cannot sustain a person in trying 
situations. 1 " 

Admiral Farragut said to a gentleman at Long Branch, 
after the close of the late war : — 



530 LEADERS OF MEN. 

" Would you like to know how I was enabled to serve my 
country ? " 

" Of course I should," responded the person addressed. 
"I should enjoy it hugely." 

" It was all owing to a resolution that I formed when I was 
ten years old,'" continued the admiral. "My father was sent 
to New Orleans with the little navy we had, to look after the 
treason of Burr. I accompanied him as a cabin boy. I had 
some qualities that I thought made a man of me. I could 
swear like an old salt, could drink a stiff glass of grog as if I 
had doubled Cape Horn, and could smoke like a locomotive. I 
was great at cards, and was fond of gambling in every shape. 
At the close of dinner one day, my father turned everybody 
out of the cabin, locked the door, and said to me : — 

" ' David, what do you mean to be ? ' 

" ' I mean to follow the sea,' I said. 

"' Follow the sea!' exclaimed father; 'yes, be a poor, 
miserable, drunken sailor before the mast, kicked and cuffed 
about the world, and die in some fever hospital in a foreign 
clime.' 

" ' No, father," I replied, ' I will tread the quarter-deck, and 
command, as you do.' 

" 'No, David ; no boy ever trod the quarter-deck with such 
principles as you have, and such habits as you exhibit. You 
will have to change your whole course of life if you ever 
become a man.' 

" My father then left me and went on deck. I was stunned 
by the rebuke, and overwhelmed with mortification. ' A poor, 
miserable, drunken sailor before the mast, kicked and cuffed 
about the world, and die in some fever hospital ! ' That 's my 
fate, is it ? I '11 change my life and change it at once. I will 
never utter another oath, never drink a drop of intoxicating 
liquor, never gamble. And, as God is my witness, I have kept 
these three vows to this hour. Shortly after I became a Chris- 
tian, and that act settled my temporal, as it settled my moral, 
destiny." 

It was a good beginning for Farragut when his father 
started him off in the direction of total abstinence and purity. 
But for his good resolve on that memorable day, he would 
have been a ruined sailor before the mast, instead of the 
famous admiral he was. 



HOW TO START IN LIFE. 531 

The late William B. Spooner, of Boston, was but seven years 
old when poverty forced him out of his home into a tanyard, 
where he drove the horse in the bark mill. A very poor out- 
look it was for the homesick boy ! But it proved a good start, 
because it introduced him, after fifteen years, to the leather 
business in Boston. His early training in the tannery famil- 
iarized him with the details of the business, and his excellent 
principles won the confidence of all who knew him. At 
twenty-two he was serving a large and successful leather 
dealer, when a gentleman who had observed his tact, indus- 
try, and transparent honesty, invited him to become his part- 
ner in the same kind of business. 

" I have no capital to put into the business,'" said Spooner. 

" Yes, you have,'' responded the gentleman; "you have 
character and experience, and I have money. I will put my 
money into the firm, and that is all the money we want ; and 
you put in your experience and principles." 

The bargain was concluded on this basis, as Spooner knew 
the young man who had the money capital to be entirely reli- 
able. The end of that new departure was that in forty-five 
years he was worth half a million dollars, and he had lost and 
, given in charity another half million. At the same time, he 
had become one of the most influential and honored citizens 
of Boston. Poverty gave him a good start at seven years of 
age ; and tact, integrity, and hard work supplemented it at 
twenty-two. Neither a favored ancestry nor money rendered 
him essential aid. 

A father placed his son, sixteen years of age, in a large 
mercantile house in New York city. One day a lady was 
examining some silk dress goods, when the young clerk dis- 
covered a flaw in the silk, and called her attention to it. The 
result was that she did not purchase the silk. His employer 
witnessed the whole scene, and at once wrote to the boy's 
father to come and take him away, as he " would never make 
a merchant." 

The father hastened to the city and asked : — 

" Why will not my son make a merchant ? " 

" Because he has not the tact,'" answered the merchant. 
"He told a lady voluntarily that the silk she wanted to buy 
was damaged, and I lost the bargain. Purchasers must look 
out for themselves." 



532 LEADERS OF MEN. 

•' Is that air? " inquired the father, greatly relieved. 

" Yes." 

" Then I think more of my son than ever, and 1 would not 
have him remain in your store for the world." 

That merchant became a bankrupt, and the boy became an 
honored millionaire, as honest as he was rich. The employer 
never had a good start, with all his money ; .the boy got a 
good start when he was turned out of that warehouse for his 
uprightness. 

The renowned Dr. Channing once wrote to a young 
man : — 

"At your age I was poor, dependent, hardly able to buy 
my clothes ; but the great idea of improvement had seized 
upon me — I wanted to make the most of myself. I was not 
satisfied with knowing things superficially, and by halves, but 
tried to get some comprehensive views of what I studied ; I 

had an end, and, for a boy, a high end, in view 

The idea of carrying myself forward did a great deal for 

me I never had an anxious thought about my lot 

in life ; when I was poor, ill, and compelled to work with 
little strength, I left the future to itself." 

The good start which Dr. Channing had was when he 
resolved " to make the most of himself."' 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MARSHALL FIELD. 



MR. FIELD ON THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE HIS HANK 

AMONG MERCHANTS AS AN INDIVIDUAL HIS WHOLESALE AND RETAIL 

BUSINESS GENERAL ESTIMATE OF HIS WEALTH HIS BUSINESS METHODS 

FOUNDATION STONE OF HIS SUCCESS HOW HIS MERCANTILE BUSINESS 

GREW A MAN OF MODEST AND RETIRING DISPOSITION HIS ASSOCIA- 
TIONS RESTRICTED TO A FEW PRIVATE BENEFACTIONS RELIGIOUS 

LIFE PUBLIC BENEFACTIONS THE FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM GIFTS 

TO CHICAGO UNIVERSITY - BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD PRIVATE LIFE. 

THE YOUNG MAN IN MERCANTILE LIFE. 

I would say first to a young man standing upon the thresh- 
old of a business career that he should carefully consider 
what his natural bent or inclination is, be it 
business or profession ; in other words, take 
stock of himself and ascertain, if possible, 
what he is best adapted for and endeavor to 
get into that vocation with as few changes 
as possible. Having entered upon it, then 
let him pursue the work in hand with dili- 
gence and determination to get it thoroughly, 
which can only be done by close and enthu- 
siastic application of the powers at his 
command. He should strive to master the 
details and put into it an energy directed by strong common 
sense so as to make his services of value wherever he is ; be 
alert and ready to seize opportunities when they present them- 
selves. The trouble with most young men is that they don't 
learn anything thoroughly and are apt to do work committed 
to them in a careless manner ; forgetting that what is worth 
doing at all is worth doing well. They become mere drones 
and relyupon chance to bring them success. The business 
world is full of just such young men content in simply putting 
in their time somehow and drawing their salaries ; making 
no effort whatever to increase their efficiency and thereby 
enhance their own as well as their employers' interests. There 
are others who want to do what they are not fitted for and 




534 LEADERS OF MEN. 

waste their lives in what may be called misfit occupations. 
Far better be a good carpenter or mechanic of any kind than 
a poor business or professional man. 

Next to the selection of occupation is that of companions. 
Particularly is this important in the case of young- men begin- 
ning their career in strange cities and away from home influ- 
ences, as too often is it the case that young men of excellent 
abilities are ruined by evil associates ; a young man therefore 
cannot too early guard himself against forming friendships 
with those whose tendency is to lead him on the downward 
path. To every young man I would say, seek at the start to 
cultivate the acquaintance of those only whose contact and 
influence will kindle high purposes, as I regard the building 
up of the sterling character one of the fundamental principles 
of true success. The young man possessing a conscience that 
cannot brook the slightest experience of wrongdoing and 
which insists on steadfast, undeviating truthfulness, sturdy 
honesty, and strict devotion to duty under all circumstances, 
has a fortune to begin with. The ability to restrain habit, 
passions, tongue, and temper, to be their master and not their 
slave, in a word, absolute self-control, is also of first impor- 
tance. One who cannot govern himself is unfitted to govern 
others. 

Economy is one of the most essential elements of success, 
yet most wretchedly disregarded. The old adage, " Willful 
waste makes woeful want," never was more fully exemplified 
than in these days when much of the want that now prevails 
would not exist had care been taken in time of prosperity to 
lay up something for a "rainy day.'' The average young 
man of to-day when he begins to earn is soon inclined to hab- 
its of extravagance and wastefulness ; gets somehow imbued 
with the idea that irrespective of what he earns he must 
indulge in habits corresponding to those of some other } r oung 
man simply because he indulges or imagines he cannot be 
manly without. The five, ten, or fifteen cents a day that is 
acquired, while a mere trifle apparently, if saved, would in a 
few years amount to thousands of dollars and go far toward 
establishing the foundations of a future career. One must 
realize that, in order to acquire the dollars he must take care 
of the nickels. Careful saving and careful spending invaria- 
bly promote success. It has been well said that, ''It is not 






MARSHALL FIELD. 535 

what a man earns but what he saves, that makes him rich.*' 
John Jacob Astor said that the saving of the first thousand 
dollars cost him the hardest struggle. As a rule people do not 
know how to save. I deem it of the highest importance, 
therefore, to impress upon every young man the duty of 
beginning to save from the moment he commences to earn, be 
it ever so little ; a habit so formed in early life will prove of 
incalculable benefit to him in after years ; not only in the 
amount acquired but through the exercise of economy in small 
affairs he will grow in knowledge and fitness for larger duties 
that may devolve upon him. 

A young man should aim to be manly and self-reliant : to 
make good use of all the spare moments ; to read only whole- 
some books ; and study to advance his own interests as well 
as those of his employer in every possible way. As a rule a 
young man of high principles and fair ability who saves his 
money and keeps his habits good becomes valuable in any 
concern. 

I would not have young men believe, however, that success 
consists solely in acquisition of wealth ; far from it, as that 
idea is much too prevalent already. The desire to become rich 
at the expense of character prevails to an alarming extent and 
cannot be too severely denounced. What is needed to-day 
more than anything else is to instill in the minds of our 
young the desire above all to build up a character that will 
win the respect of all with whom they come in contact, and 
which is vastly more important than a great fortune. 

If the elements herein outlined promote success the logical 
conclusion would be that a disregard of them forebodes fail- 
ure. The man who is characterized by want of forethought, 
idleness, carelessness, or general shiftlessness cannot expect 
to succeed. These, coupled with other causes, such as extrava- 
gance in living or living beyond one's means ; outside 
speculations and gambling ; want of proper judgment, over- 
estimating capacity and undertaking more than capital would 
warrant ; assuming too heavy liabilities ; relying on chance 
to pull through; lack of progressiveness, — all are prolific 
causes of failure. 



K^S^C<St<<s&Z& K 




536 LEADERS OF MEN. 

mARSHALL FIELD is the Sphinx of the mercantile 
world — colossal, awesome, and silent. In the long 
V list of American multi-millionaires are a few names 
that have little or no significance to the average 
reader. Conspicuous among these is the name of Marshall 
Field. It is seldom heard outside of Chicago except in 
mercantile circles. Yet Marshall Field is the greatest 
merchant in the world, and, possibly, the third richest man 
in the United States. 

As an individual, he exists only to a very limited number 
of business associates, friends, cronies, and relatives ; to the 
masses of the people, even to those in his home city of 
Chicago, he is simply a gigantic business emporium. 

To understand him better it is necessary to learn a few 
facts that have exerted the greatest influence upon his career. 

The supreme achievement of Marshall Field's life has been 
the accumulation of an immense fortune. 

When the variety and magnitude of his business opera- 
tions are considered, it is marvelous that one man in his wak- 
ing moments can exercise even a general supervision of them. 

His wholesale and retail dry goods business is in excess of 
$50,000,000 a year. He manufactures a large percentage of 
the goods he sells, and the rattle of his looms is heard in the 
manufacturing centers of both hemispheres. He has factories 
in England, Ireland, and Scotland, in France, Italy, Spain, 
Germany, Austria, and Russia, in China, Japan, and India. 
His woolen mills furnish a local market for the Australian 
wool-grower, and the revolutions of his spindles in South 
America run races with the government of that part of the 
world. 

When J. Pierpont Morgan organized the United Steel 
Corporation, commonly known as the Steel Trust, there was 
no public mention of the name of Marshall Field, although 
he is one of the largest stockholders in that corporation. 

The extent of his holdings in the great lines of railroads is 
not definitely known. It has been stated with some color of 
authority that he has $10,000,000 invested in Baltimore and 
Ohio, and his holdings in Milwaukee and St. Paul and the 
Northwestern are known to be large. In the Pullman Car 
Company he is the largest individual stockholder and has 
controlled the affairs of that great corporation for a number 
of years. 



MARSHALL FIELD. 537 

In real estate alone his wealth exceeds that of many multi- 
millionaires who are more widely known than himself. A 
conservative estimate of the real estate owned by Marshall 
Field in Chicago alone, including land in the vicinity of the 
Calumet river peculiarly adapted for manufacturing pur- 
poses, places it at $30,000,000. In addition to this he has a 
great deal of valuable iron mining land in the northern pen- 
insula of Michigan. 

Although not known by the titles of banker or financier, 
his banking and purely financial interests are large. 

Conservatively stated, Marshall Field's wealth exceeds a 
hundred millions of dollars ; how much in excess can only be 
surmised, and it is doubtful whether he himself knows. 

In this age of enormous individual fortunes, it is not so 
marvelous that one man should have acquired this great sum, 
as it is that it is all clean money made honestly, in a legitimate 
business. To credit it solely to the ability and business methods 
of its owner would be an error, though Mr. Field takes pride 
in the belief that the basis of his business success is cash. 
His entire business is conducted upon a cash basis. There is 
no evidence that he ever owed a dollar, and it is certain that 
he never borrowed one. He never gave a note or a mortgage, 
never bought or sold a dollar's worth of stock on margins. 
His nearest approach to speculation has been in mining 
investments. 

Although a heavy investor in stocks, Wall street methods 
are as obnoxious to him as those of any other game of chance. 

The intoxication of the wheat pit is as unknown to him as 
any other form of drunkenness. In an indirect way the 
Titanic struggles on the Board of Trade have been of profit to 
him, for he has supplied the victims of wheat, ribs, and lard 
corners with the cash to settle their losses by buying their 
inside gilt-edged down-town real estate and adding it to his 
lucrative permanent investments. 

Another foundation stone of his success has been business 
integrity. The house of Marshall Field & Co. is as far above 
suspicion as Caesar's wife. The great merchant has escaped 
the sobriquet of " Honest'* Marshall Field, but the adjective 
is indelibly stamped upon his business reputation. Although 
much of his success must be credited to the inherited Yankee 
instinct for barter and trade, and to sterling mercantile meth- 
ods, the element of chance had much to do with it. 



538 LEADERS OF MEN. 

When Marshall Field came to Chicago, a strong-limbed, 
clear-headed Yankee farmer's son, the place had a population 
of 50,000. It was inevitable in the development of the Middle 
West that its metropolis should be on the shores of Lake 
Michigan, but there was a wide diversity of opinion concern- 
ing the exact spot. Conditions seemed to favor Milwaukee, 
eighty miles north ; Saint Joseph. Michigan, on the opposite 
shore had its prophets, but the final choice fell to Chicago 
aided by the "I will'' spirit of its pioneers. 

In those days Marshall Field was a hard-working clerk. 
He had been born to work, though not to poverty, and was 
schooled in hard New England economy. He attended to his 
business and saved his money. In time he became a partner. 
Chance determined it as the right time, for in that year the 
Civil War began, and prices rose correspondingly with the 
enormous demand for commodities. The enduring founda- 
tion of the house of Marshall Field & Co. was laid and its 
future assured. The remainder of the story is found in the 
rapid booming of the West, in the progress of science and 
invention, and in the growth of Chicago to a population of 
nearly two millions. 

It is the exceptional individual only who escapes from his 
environment. Other men may rise above it at times, but they 
never get away from it entirely. Marshall Field's environ- 
ment since youth has been the store, the shop, the factory. 
He has lived continuously in an atmosphere of business and 
always within hearing of the clink of the coin as it fell into 
the till. If in his youth he had been what we call a sociable 
man with a disposition to mingle with his fellow men, sharing 
their troubles and dividing his own with them, the world 
might have heard of him in some other capacity, but never as 
its greatest merchant. It is not remarkable then that a 
youthful life absorbed in business should not be turned from 
the pursuit of its greatest purpose by the affairs of others, or 
lured from the hum of shoppers, the clatter of looms, the 
whirl of spindles, and the music of the ever dropping coin 
by the frou-frou and chatter of modern society. 

In small communities the volume of a merchant's business 
quite often depends as much upon his attitude towards his 
fellow townsmen as the quality and variety of his merchan- 
dise. He is personally known to all his customers and, if he 



MARSHALL FIELD. 539 

is an affable man, taking part in the small society of the place 
and displaying a proper public spirit, he has an advantage 
over competitors of less tact. Hence it becomes a part of his 
business to cultivate an agreeable personality and a liberal 
public spirit, and to participate in all the affairs of his com- 
munity. 

The personality of the great city merchant is swallowed 
up in his business. Few of his customers ever see him. 
They have no more interest in his personal traits than he has 
in theirs. In the great city emporium the homely cordiality 
of the country store is supplanted by cold business formality. 

It may be argued, however, that the great merchant would 
identify himself with the public affairs of the community, if 
only for selfish reasons, inasmuch as the growth and material 
prosperity of the municipality mean a corresponding growth 
of his business. Ordinarily, this is the case, but Marshall 
Field is the exception and the logical one. The unaided 
growth of Chicago from a town to a city was so rapid that the 
business energy of its leading merchant was taxed to keep 
pace with it. Rapidly accumulating wealth imposes a degree 
of slavery upon its owner, however joyfully the victim may 
thrust his neck further and further into the golden yoke. 
The phenomenal growth of Marshall Field's business chained 
him to the- counting room and to the till. 

Whatever may be the secret pleasures of such a strenuous, 
exacting business life, it has its drawbacks ; for the outward 
evidence is that it narrows the sympathies and blunts the per- 
ception of man's duty to society. In the pride of his strength 
man is apt to forget that many are weak. 

Marshall Field has lived the self-centered life of the strenu- 
ous business man. Publicity of any sort is distasteful to him, 
and he regards the interviewer as an intruder. His persistent 
refusal to talk for publication or to consent to pose as the sub- 
ject of the biographer or character student is not chargeable 
to excessive modesty. He is modest enough, but it would be 
more accurate to say that his dislike to appearing in print is 
the natural resentment of a reclusive spirit to a seeming inter- 
ference with its affairs. It may be charged in part to the 
sensitive pride that is so apparent in people who live much to 
themselves or are wholly absorbed in their own affairs. 

Only of late years has it been possible to obtain his photo- 



540 LEADERS OF MEN. 

graph, but the best counterfeit presentment the photographer's 
art can produce does not do him justice. It is faithful only in 
showing his white hair and mustache, and the well-preserved 
features of a man who has lived an abstemious life. It can 
give no idea of his dynamic presence, suggestive of agressive- 
ness as well as of unlimited reserve force. It shows the 
contour of general features, but not their animating keenness 
and shrewdness. It cannot put the rapier glances into the cold 
gray eyes, set far back in the head. 

If Marshall Field were in the midst of a street crowd 
on bargain day any student of character would single him 
out of the thousands as a master of men. His erect military 
bearing might cause him to be mistaken for a retired admiral 
or major-general,but no one would ever mistake him for an ordi- 
nary man. No young blade of a soldier carries himself better 
than this man of sixty-six, as he walks to his place of busi- 
ness in the early morning. His commodious and old-fashioned 
residence is about a mile from his great retail store. It is not 
so large or imposing as the Pullman residence further down 
the street, yet George M. Pullman in the later years of his life 
was only a kind of head clerk of Marshall Field's car busi- 
ness. 

There is a library in the house, but the master merchant 
does not rank as a book-lover ; there are pictures on the 
walls, — good ones, too, — but the owner can scarcely be called 
an art collector or a connoisseur. 

In this home of his younger days the man of many millions 
dwells alone. His wife is dead, and his children, a son, who 
bears the same name as himself, and a daughter, are both 
married. 

Within the gilded and expansive circle of society he has 
drawn a smaller circle, close to the nave, within which are 
included the few to whom he dispenses hospitality, and at 
whose homes he occasionally dines. They are for the most 
part old friends around whom cluster the memories and senti- 
ments of early days in Chicago. The practical nature of 
Marshall Field is shown in his friendships as well as in his 
business, as many of his old friends could testify if they 
would. One conspicuous instance of this is found in the eleva- 
tion of Robert T. Lincoln to the presidency of the Pullman 
Company. There are many other instances in which his 



MARSHALL FLELD. 541 

hand has been stretched forth in friendly help to preferment 
or to avert financial disaster. 

What and how widespread are his private benefactions 
no man may know. With his church and its pastors he 
has dealt liberally. The old Second Presbyterian Church of 
which he is a member, and which was founded by a scholar 
and churchman of gentle memory in Chicago, the Reverend 
Robert Patterson, was recently destroyed by fire, but a sub- 
stantial edifice will take its place. 

Mr. Field is not publicly identified with church affairs, as 
are Rockefeller and Morgan, but whenever his religion is 
expressed in any act it reveals the old Puritan spirit of literal 
observance. He is the only big merchant in Chicago that 
does not advertise in the Sunday papers. 

Thus it is seen that Marshall Field has a social, though not 
a society, part, and that his religion is as orthodox as his busi- 
ness principles. Although he takes no public part in politics, 
he has serious political convictions. Notwithstanding his 
exclusiveness and the natural tendency of great wealth 
toward aristocratic ideas, his democracy, which is of the soil, 
is too deep-rooted to permit him to be anything but a Demo- 
crat — a Democrat of the Cleveland school, with "Public 
office is a public trust " as his motto. His business as an 
importer, one of the largest in the country, naturally sug- 
gests his view of tariff reform, which is to abolish the 
tariff. 

The lives of few men in this country arc so suggestive of 
the opportunities for legitimate business success within the 
last half century. That Marshall Field has improved every 
business opportunity is shown by marvelous results ; that 
much of his wealth is due to conditions and circumstances, in 
the creation of which he had no part, is a matter of historical 
record. 

The community has done much for him. What has he 
done for the community ? His public benefactions, so far. can 
be numbered on one hand, with fingers to spare. His most 
conspicuous public donation is the Field Columbian Museum, 
to which he gave a million dollars. This museum occupies 
the old Fine Arts building of the World's Fair, in Jackson 
park. Mr. Field is credited with a desire to make this the 
greatest museum of natural history in the world. A great 



542 LEADERS OF MEN. 

deal of the old junk left over from the World's Fair, which 
formed the nucleus of the museum, has already been disposed 
of, and its place supplied by exhibits more in keeping with the 
character of the institution. 

There is reason to believe that the word " Columbian," in 
its title, is a present bar to the fulfillment of Mr. Field's 
desires in respect to the museum. As the name now stands, 
it perpetuates the achievements of the World's Fair. Such 
was the intention of its founders. The name of Field was 
prefixed as an acknowledgment of Mr. Field's million-dollar 
donation. Marshall Field is a proud man, though with none 
of the ostentatious pride that finds its gratification in palatial 
yachts, gorgeous equipages, and sybarite luxuries. His pride 
is of that old New England strain that finds expression in the 
protection of the good name and the preservation of the 
virtues of its possessor. Marshall Field is proud of his name, 
and, if it were bestowed exclusively upon the museum, it is 
believed that the prospects of that institution to be made the 
greatest of its kind in the world would be brighter than they 
are at present. 

The University of Chicago has received large gifts from 
Mr. Field, but all the gifts to this institution shrink into insig- 
nificance beside Rockefeller's donation of $10,000,000. 

In the town of Conway, Massachusetts, Mr. Field has built 
a memorial library at a cost of $200,000. This seems like a 
small sum in these days, when one woman gives $30,000,000 
to a university, and Carnegie tosses out libraries like a man 
throwing handbills at a circus. But it is munificent for a 
town the size of Conway and ample for its nejeds. 

On a farm near this town Marshall Field was born and 
passed his boyhood days. It was here he went to the district 
school and got the elementary education which he has sup- 
plemented by experience in a world-wide business. His ances- 
tors were of the soil, and he was a hardy product of genera- 
tions of hardy men. 

He is now approaching the " threescore years and ten " 
allotted to man, and is still physically rugged. 

His former partners, Levi Z. Leiter and Potter Palmer, 
have retired from business, but with him the struggle goes on 
as of yore. He is still the central figure of a world of his own 
making — a humming, buzzing world of busy people, creat- 




MARSHALL FIELD. 



THE YOUNG 31 AN IN MERCANTILE LIFE. 545 

ing, buying, selling, packing, and shipping. How shall a man 
who has made such a world for himself and lived nearly a 
half century in its very vortex find his way out of it and be 
content in the quiet corners of a house ? Carnegie did it, but 
under the hard exterior of the ironmaster was a warm sym- 
pathy for art, letters, and science of government. He had a 
knowledge born of contact with men of all classes outside of 
his business, and a deep-seated love for the homely, quiet life 
of his native Scotland. 

In the twilight of Marshall Field's life the retrospect 
reveals nothing that a man of his ambition may not count a 
virtue. Years ago he reached the goal he set out for. Suc- 
cess within the limitations of a life devoted exclusively to 
trade is stamped upon every page of his history. His private 
life is unblemished. Thousands of skilled hands and trained 
minds perform services for him. They are well paid, and all 
the avenues of promotion are open to such as master their 
line of work. 

The test of years has confirmed his judgment in the selec- 
tion of his chief assistants, and the faithful have reaped rich 
rewards. 

He has amassed a colossal fortune without having created 
the antagonism of any class. The element of discord and 
discontent has no grievance against him. 

And now, as the twilight shadows fall — what ? 

The museum, the university, and the library are proof that 
he does not lack the spirit of- giving, and this is an age of 
public benefactions. He has millions upon millions. They 
are his own. He made them, under favorable conditions, to 
be sure, but he made them. They were not wrung from under- 
paid labor, nor gained by the chicanery of stock jobbing. 
They represent no man's loss. What he will do with them 
none but himself can say — and the Sphinx, colossal and 
awesome, guarding the great pyramids of trade, is silent. 

THE YOUNG MAN IN MERCANTILE LIFE. 

iEFORE a young man attempts to make a success he 
should convince himself that he is in a congenial busi- 
ness, whether it be a trade or profession ; both are 
honorable and productive. Let him satisfy himself before 
everything else that it enlists his personal interest. If a man 



546 LEADERS OF MEN. 

shows that he has his work at heart, his success can be relied 
on. Personal interest in any work will bring other things, 
but all the other essentials combined cannot create personal 
interest. That must exist first : then two thirds of the battle 
is won. Fully satisfied that he is in that particular line of 
business for which he feels stronger, warmer interests than 
for any other, then he should remain. 

First, whatever else he may strive to be, he must, above all, 
be absolutely honest. From honorable principles he can never 
swerve. A temporary success is often possible on what are 
not exactly dishonest, but precarious lines ; such success, how- 
ever, is only temporary with a certainty of permanent loss. 
The surest business successes — yes, the only successes worth 
the making — are built on honest foundations. There can be 
no blinking at the truth or at honesty, no halfway compro- 
mise. There is but one way to be successful, and that is to be 
absolutely honest, and there is but one way of being honest. 
Honesty is not only the foundation, but the capstone, as well, 
of business success. 

If the case in point be that of a merchant, he must be 
scrupulously just and upright in all his transactions ; integ- 
rity, good faith, exactness in fulfilling his engagements, must 
be permanent and distinctive features in his character. He 
must be a high-minded and honorable man. He must feel a 
stain upon his good name like a wound, and regard with utter 
abhorrence everything that wears the appearance of mean- 
ness or duplicity. Knowing that credit is the soul of business, 
he is anxious to sustain the integrity of the mercantile charac- 
ter ; accordingly, his word is good as his bond ; he stands to 
his bargain and is faithful to his contract. He would rather 
at any time relinquish something of his lawful rights than 
engage in an irritating dispute. He would rather be the object 
than the agent in a dishonorable or fraudulent transaction. 
When one told old Bishop Latimer than the cutler had cozened 
him in making him pay twopence for a knife not worth a 
penny, " No," said Latimer, " he cozened not me but his own 
conscience." 

Second : He must be alert and alive to every opportunity. 
He cannot afford to lose a single point, for that single point 
might prove the very link that would make complete the 
whole chain of business success. Though an enterprising 



THE YOUNG MAN IN MERCANTILE LIFE. 547 

man and willing to run some risks, knowing this to be essen- 
tial to success in commercial adventure, yet he is not willing 
to risk everything nor put all on the hazard of a single throw. 
He feels that he has no right to do this, that it is morally 
wrong thus to put in jeopardy his own peace and the comfort 
and prospects of his family. Of course, he engages in no 
wild and visionary schemes the results of which are 
altogether uncertain, being based upon unreasonable expec- 
tations and improbable suppositions. He is particularly 
careful to embark in no speculation out of his regular line of 
business and with the details of which he is not familiar. He 
is aware, although he knows all about the cost of the ship 
and can determine the quality and estimate the value of a 
bale of cotton, that he is not a good judge of the worth of 
wild lands because his experience has not been with them. 
Accordingly he will have nothing to do with any bargains of 
this sort, however promising they may appear. He will noc 
take a leap in the dark nor purchase upon representations of 
others who may be interested in the sale. He deems it safest 
for him to keep clear of grand speculations and to attend 
quietly and regularly to his own business. Above all he 
makes it a matter of conscience not to risk in hazardous 
enterprises the property of others intrusted to his keeping. 

Third : He must be willing to learn, never overlooking 
the fact that others have long ago forgotten what he has still 
to learn. Firmness of decision is an admirable trait in busi- 
ness. The young man whose opinion can be tossed from one 
side to another is poor material, but youth is full of errors and 
caution is a strong trait. At the outset he is careful to indulge 
in no extravagance and to live within his means — the neglect 
of which precaution he finds involves so many in failure and 
ruin. Simple in his manners and unostentatious in his habits 
of life he abstains from all frivolous and foolish expenditure. 
At the same time he is not niggardly or mean. Whatever 
will contribute to the improvement or welfare of his family or 
whatever will gratify their innocent tastes, be it books or pic- 
tures, he obtains, if within his means though it cost much, 
knowing that at the same time he may foster the genius 
and reward the labors of an inestimable class of men whose 
work reflects honor upon their country and who consequently 
merit the patronage of the community. But whatever is 



548 LEADERS OF MEN. 

intended for mere parade and vain show he will have none 
of it though it cost nothing. He thinks it wise and good econ- 
omy to spend a great deal of money, if he can afford it, to ren- 
der home attractive and to make his children wise and virtu- 
ous and happy. Above all he never grudges what is paid to 
the schools and other mediums of education for their intel- 
lectual and moral training ; for a good education he deems 
above all price. 

Fourth : The young business man if he be wise will 
entirely avoid the use of liquors. If the question of harm 
done by intoxicating liquors is an open one the question of the 
actual good derived from it is not. 

Fifth : Let him remember that a young man's strongest 
recommendation is his respectability. Some young men 
apparently successful may be flashy in dress, loud in manner, 
and disrespectful of women and sacred things, but the young 
man who is respectful always wears best. The way a young 
man carries himself in his private life oftentimes means much 
to him in his business career. No matter where he is or in 
whose company, respectability, and all that it implies, will 
always command respect. 

Sixth : The successful man of business feels that he has 
duties not only to his immediate relatives and friends, but to 
a larger family — the community in which he lives. He is 
deeply interested in its virtue and happiness and feels bound 
to contribute his full share to the establishment and support 
of all good institutions, particularly the institutions of learn- 
ing, humanity, and religion. He is led to this by the exten- 
sive liberalizing spirit of his calling. It is unfortunately the 
tendency of some occupations to narrow the mind and con- 
tract the heart. The mere division of labor incident to and 
inseparable from many mechanical and manufacturing pur- 
suits, though important and beneficial in other respects, yet 
serves to dwarf and cramp the intellect. The man who spends 
all his days in making the heads of pins thinks of nothing 
else and is fit for nothing else. Commercial pursuits, on the 
other hand, being so various, extensive, and complicated, tend 
to enlarge the mind and banish narrow and selfish feelings. 
The merchant, for instance, looks abroad over the world, puts 
a girdle around the earth, has communication with all climes 
and nations and is thus ready to take large and liberal views 



THE YOUNG MAX IX MERCANTILE LIFE. 549 

of all things. The wealth which he has acquired easily and 
rapidly he is consequently disposed to spend freely and mag- 
nificently. It has been splendidly said of Roscoe, a distin- 
guished Liverpool merchant : " Wherever you go you perceive 
traces of his footsteps in all that is elegant and liberal. He 
found the tide of wealth flowing merely in the channels of 
traffic ; he has diverted from it invigorating rills to refresh 
the gardens of literature. The noble institutions of literary 
and scientific purposes which reflect such credit on that city 
have mostly been originated and they all have been effectually 
promoted by him." In like manner the successful business 
man encourages learning and patronizes learned men. 

Seventh : The virtue of patience cannot be too strongly 
emphasized. The electric atmosphere of the American busi- 
ness world is all too apt to make young men impatient. They 
want to fly before they can even walk well. Ambition is a 
splendid thing in any young man, but getting along too fast is 
just as injurious as getting along too slowly. Men between 
twenty and twenty-five must be patient. Patience is, it is 
true, a difficult thing to cultivate, but it is among the first 
lessons one must learn in business. A good stock of patience 
acquired in early life will stand a man in good stead in later 
years. It is a handy thing to have to draw upon, and makes a 
splendid safety valve. Rome was not built in a day and a busi- 
ness man is not made in a night : as experience comes, the judg- 
ment will become mature, and by the time the young man 
reaches thirty he will begin to realize that he did not know as 
much at twenty-five as he thought he did. When he is ready 
to learn from others he will begin to grow wise, and when he 
reaches that state when he is willing to consider that he has 
not a " corner " in knowledge, he will be stepping out of the 
chrysalis of the immature business man. 

If a young man wishes a set of concise rules to govern his 
undertakings, here it is : — 

Get into a business you like. 

Devote yourself to it. 

Be honest in everything. 

Employ caution ; think out a thing well before you enter 
upon it. 

Sleep eight hours every night. 

Do everything that means keeping in good health. 



550 LEADERS OF MEN. 

School yourself not to worry.; worry kills, work does not. 
Avoid liquors of all kinds. 
If you smoke, smoke moderately. 

Shun discussion on two points. — religion and politics. 
And last, but not least, marry a true woman and have your 
own home. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK. 



OX PARAMOUNT ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS TYPE OF THE SUCCESSFUL 

WESTERN PIONEER BIRTHPLACE LINEAGE EARLY EDUCATION RE- 
MOVAL TO THE WEST A TEACHER IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS FURTHER 

EDUCATION STUDIES LAW A CHANGE OF PURPOSE FIRST MINING 

EXPERIENCES BECOMES A TRADER AND MERCHANT ORGANIZES A 

BANKING HOUSE SUCCESSFUL MINING PROJECTS A HARD WORKER AN 

EPISODE EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF MONTANA HIS POLITICAL CAREER 

A MEMORABLE CONTEST ELECTED UNITED STATES SENATOR HIS HOME 

AND HOME-LIFE MAN OF CULTURE AND PATRON OF ART PERSONAL 

CHARACTERISTICS. METHOD. 

The question of success in America to-day is one of large 
importance, and is susceptible of various answers, any or all 
of which may be true when taken in connec- 
tion with the particular conditions specially 
pertaining to each. There are many ele- 
ments, however, that must be relied upon as 
potent factors in any large success. There 
are some, of course, that are paramount. 
Among these that are purely personal, I 
would state the essential ones to be, in my 
opinion, the following : sobriety, regular and 
temperate habits of living, continuity and 
tenacity of purpose, absolute courage and 
determination to surmount obstacles, unflinching veracity 
and integrity, complete system and method, and reasonable 
economy. 




M>f^d^ 



'ESTERN pluck, enterprise, and intelligence are rightly 
accounted for on the theory that it was the strongest 
of mind and heart as well as body that pushed out 
from the older communities to the western frontier, especially 




552 LEADERS OF MEN. 

into the wilds of the Rocky mountain region, in the early 
sixties, some 2.000 miles beyond the border line of civilization. 
The weak and timid and vacillating are not apt to undertake 
the role of pathfinder under the circumstances and conditions 
which brought the pioneer to Bannock, Virginia City, and 
Last Chance Gulch. It was another race of men that came 
at that period to lay the foundation of this young common- 
wealth, fitting exactly the poet's ideal of those who "consti- 
tute a state,*' and who have given to Montana a pioneer his- 
tory and achievements in commerce and enterprise and 
government alike honorable and glorious. Among the 
pioneers of this stamp none has achieved greater success or 
distinction than Senator William A. Clark. The material 
benefits which the state has derived from his energy, enter- 
prise, and ability, cannot be better presented or illustrated 
than by the recital of the story of his busy and eventful 
career. 

William Andrews Clark, pioneer, miner, merchant, banker, 
and United States senator, was born on a farm near Connells- 
ville, Fayette county. Pennsylvania, on the 8th of January, 
1839. His parents were John and Mary (Andrews) Clark, 
both natives of that county. His grandfather, whose name 
was also John, was a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, who 
emigrated to this country and settled in Pennsylvania soon 
after the Revolutionary War. The latter was married to Miss 
Reed of Chester county, Pennsylvania, who was of Irish 
parentage. Mr. Clark's maternal grandparents were also 
from County Tyrone, Ireland, and settled in western Pennsyl- 
vania about the beginning of the last century. They were 
William and Sarah Andrews. Mrs. Andrews' maiden name 
was Kithcart, and she was a descendant of the Cathcart fam- 
ily, who were originally Huguenots, the name having been 
changed to Kithcart through an error made by a registrar in 
the transfer of a tract of land. The Cathcart family emi- 
grated from France into Scotland at an early period, and later 
moved to the north of Ireland. Subsequently they emi- 
grated to the United States, and different branches of the 
family settled in New York and Pennsylvania. Mr. Clark's 
parents were married in Pennsylvania, and continued to 
reside there until 1856, when they moved to Van Buren county, 
Iowa, where his father died in 1873. In his religious affilia- 



WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK. 553 

tions he was a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which 
he served as an elder for forty years prior to his death. 

Senator Clark's father being a farmer, the former's boy- 
hood days were spent on the homestead, where he enjoyed 
the advantages of three months' winter schooling and nine 
months of such farm work as the boy could turn his hand to. 
At the age of fourteen he entered Laurel Hill Academy, where 
he prepared for college and acquired a good English educa- 
tion. After the removal of his father to Iowa, William 
assisted the first year in improving and tilling the new 
prairie farm and taught school the succeeding winter. He 
attended an academy in Birmingham one term and then after- 
wards entered Iowa Wesleyan University at Mt. Pleasant, 
and later became a disciple of Blackstone. He prosecuted his 
legal studies for two years but did not afterwards engage in 
the profession ; so that the broad an'd masterful career of a 
man of affairs in the Western world was not cut short by his 
installment in the lawyer's office. 

Young Clark now started toward the setting sun. In 
1859-GO he was teaching school in Missouri. In 1862 he 
crossed the great plain, driving a team to the South Park and 
Colorado and that winter worked in the quartz mines in Cen- 
tral City, gaining knowledge and enterprise that afterward 
served him to good purpose and perhaps in no small degree 
helped to shape his destiny as the future '"quartz king'* of 
Montana. 

In 1863 the news of the gold discoveries at Bannock readied 
Colorado and Mr. Clark was among the first to start for this 
new El Dorado. After sixty-five days traveling with an ox 
team he arrived at Bannock just in time to join a stampede to 
Horse Prairie. Here he secured a claim, which he worked 
during this and the following season, clearing up a net profit 
of $1500 the first summer. This formed the basis of his future 
operations in Montana and the beginning of the immense 
fortune he has since accumulated. 

In the ensuing five years Mr. Clark's career was one of 
push and enterprise characteristic of the man. Instead of 
w T orking in the " placers *' he took advantage of the opportu- 
nities offered for trade and business and in less than half a 
decade was at the head of one of the largest wholesale mer- 
cantile establishments in the territory, built up from the 



554 LEADERS OF MEN. 

smallest beginnings. His first venture was to bring in a 
load of provision from Salt Lake City in the winter of 1 803-4, 
which he at once sold at amazing profits. The next winter 
this experiment was repeated on a larger scale and Virginia 
City was his market. In the spring of 18G5 he opened a 
general merchandise store at Blackfoot City, then a new and 
hustling mining camp. In the fall of the same year he sold 
his stock and, being apprised that tobacco was a scarce article 
iu the mining camps, went on horseback to Boise City, Idaho, 
where he purchased several thousand pounds at a cost of 
$1.50 a pound. Securing a team he drove to Helena with his 
precious cargo, closing it out at $5.00 and $6.00 a pound to 
ready purchasers. In February, 1866, Mr. Clark joined a 
stampede to Elk Creek, where he established another store 
and sold goods to the miners during the season. He closed 
out in the fall and took a trip to the Pacific coast, going as far 
as San Francisco, and making a goodly portion of the journey 
on horseback. He then returned to Montana with a stock of 
goods which he had selected to meet the wants of the miners 
and which he disposed of at large profits. 

In October, 1866, Mr. Clark went East by way of Fort Ben- 
ton and the " Mackinaw route," being thirty-five days in mak- 
ing the voyage from Fort Benton to Sioux City. After 
visiting the principal cities of the Union, including a sojourn 
in the South, he returned to Montana the following year. We 
next hear of him as a mail carrier on the Star route between 
Missoula and Walla Walla, a distance of four hundred miles, 
where his energy and administrative qualities had ample 
scope to display themselves ; but he made a success of mail 
carrying and staging, as he did of every other undertaking. 
His next move was in the direction of a wider sphere of busi- 
ness activity. 

In the autumn of 1868, Mr. Clark made a trip to New York 
city and there formed a co-partnership with Mr. R. W. Don- 
nell for the purpose of engaging in a wholesale mercantile 
and banking business in Montana — a connection that resulted 
in one of the strongest business firms of that period in the 
territory. They shipped in a large stock of general merchan- 
dise over the Missouri river in the spring of 1869 and estab- 
lished an extensive wholesale business at Helena. In 1870 
the business was transferred to Deer Lodge and consolidated 



WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK. 555 

with that of Mr. Donnell on the west side city. At this time 
Mr. S. E. Larabie was admitted into the business and the firm 
of Donnell, Clark & Larabie entered upon a successful career. 
The mercantile branch of the business was shortly closed out 
and they then gave exclusive attention to banking, first at 
Deer Lodge, and at a later date at both that place and Butte 
City. In May, 1884, Messrs. Clark and Larabie purchased the 
interests of Mr. Donnell in their Montana business and sub- 
sequently Mr. Clark and his brother James Ross Clark came 
into full ownership of the Butte bank. The banking house 
of W. A. Clark & Brother of Butte City, Montana, has since 
that time grown into one of the strongest banking institutions 
of the West. 

But it is in mining investments and in the operations 
of vast ore mills and smelters for the treatment of base ores 
that Mr. Clark has made the great financial success of his life, 
and contributed so largely to the development and prosperity 
of his state. No other single individual has played so con- 
spicuous a part in this direction. In 1877, Mr. Clark first 
began to give attention to the quartz prospects of Butte, pur- 
chasing in this year in whole or in part the original Colusa, 
Mountain Chief, Gambetta, and other mines, nearly all of 
which proved afterward to be fabulously rich. 

In order to fit himself for a successful mining career Mr. 
Clark spent the winter of 1872-3 at the School of Mines, 
Columbia College, taking a course in practical assaying and 
analysis, with a general outline of mineralogy, where he 
gained a knowledge that afterwards served him excellent 
part in his extensive mining, milling, and smelting opera- 
tions. 

The first stamp mill of Butte, "The Old Dexter," was 
finished in 1 87G through the financial help of Mr. Clark. The 
first smelter of consequence in the same city was erected by a 
company organized by him. This was the Colorado and 
Montana Company, which still continues as one of the 
leading enterprises of the " copper city." Mr. Clark is one of 
the principal stockholders and vice-president of the company. 
In 1880 he organized the Moulton Company, which at once 
proceeded to the erection of the Moulton Mill and the develop- 
ment of the mine. The company built a complete, dry-crush- 
ing and chloridizing, forty-stamp mill, sunk a three compart- 



55G LEADERS OF MEN. 

merit shaft 800 feet, put in modern pumping and hoisting 
works and thoroughly explored the property at the cost of 
about $500,000. This mine has been in successful operation 
ever since. Even through the period of financial depression, 
when nearly every other silver mine in the West closed down, 
the stamps of the Moulton never ceased to drop. Mr. Clark, 
in connection with his brother James Ross, is also the owner 
of the Butte Reduction Works, and the Colusa Parrot, and 
several other copper and silver mines in connection therewith. 
Besides his interests in these companies he has large individ- 
ual holdings in the mines of Butte, many of which are in suc- 
cessful operation, affording employment to a small army of 
men. He also owns valuable mining properties in Idaho and 
Arizona. The United Verde Copper Company's property in 
Arizona owned by him is one of the mining wonders of the 
world. It is probably the richest and most extensive of all 
the mines, not excepting the Anaconda, Mountain View, or 
any of the big properties of Butte. Mr. Clark completed and 
equipped a railroad to the United Verde mine, connecting 
with the Santa Fe system, which is a marvel of engineering 
and, considering its length, which is 26 miles, it is one of the 
most expensive east of the Mississippi river. He has built 
immense smelting and refining plants at this mine and the 
future output from it will probably only be limited by the 
demands of the world's markets. 

Mr. Clark established the first water system in Butte and 
also the first electric light plant. He is the owner of the 
Butte Miner, one of the leading daily papers of the city, and 
also president and principal owner of the cable and electric 
railways of that city, and largely interested in many other 
industrial enterprises besides the mining and smelting of 
ores. No man gives closer attention to his extensive busi- 
ness affairs than does Mr. Clark, and consequently he is 
one of the busiest men imaginable. As illustrative of his 
characteristics in this respect the following incident is 
related : — 

Several years ago a Washington man visited Montana 
with a letter of introduction to Mr. Clark. He found the 
millionaire seated in a plain, poorly furnished office working 
as if his life depended upon it. He was pleasant enough — 
for politeness is an invariable rule with him — but it could be 



. 



WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK. 557 

plainly seen that he had no time to devote to unimportant 

matters. Noting this, Mr. X retired, not, however, before 

he had received an invitation to return in an hour and lunch 
with him. The meal was of the plainest description and 
hurriedly disposed of. Again there was no time for unnec- 
essary talk, but Mr. X managed to make the senator 

consent to meet him the following morning. 

" What time will you come around ?" asked Mr. Clark. 

" Any time that will suit you," responded Mr. X . 

'" Seven o'clock then,"' responded Mr. Clark, explaining the 
earliness of the hour by saying. " I am rather of an early riser. 
It is a habit I have got into. I do not ask my employees to 
get around any earlier than I do myself. I am always at my 
office at seven o'clock every morning when I am in town." 

Subsequently Mr. X ascertained that the office hours 

of the senator were from 7 a. m. to 7 p. m., with a brief 
interval of half an hour in the middle of the day for refresh- 
ments. 

Notwithstanding that Mr. Clark's time is always in 
demand in connection with his vast business interests, still 
he has always taken time to respond to any call of public 
duty either from his state or his party and the services ren- 
dered have invariably been of the highest order. Whatever 
he does, he does well. Taking a deep interest in public 
and political affairs he has prepared himself by study and 
observation to fulfill the highest functions of citizenship. 
During the Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia in 1870, Gov- 
ernor Potts appointed him State Orator to represent Montana, 
and his oration on that occasion was a brilliant effort and did 
good service in making known the wonderful resources of his 
state. In 1884 he was elected a delegate from Silver Bow 
county to the first constitutional convention of Montana and 
was chosen president of that body. In this position he won 
new laurels as presiding officer and showed himself a master 
of parliamentary law and tactics. In the same year he was 
commissioned by President Arthur to act as one of the com- 
missioners of the World's Industrial and Cotton Exhibition at 
New Orleans, where he spent several months in the interests 
of Montana. 

In 1888 Mr. Clark received the Democratic nomination for 
delegate to Congress and made a brilliant canvass of the 



558 LEADERS OF MEN. 

territory, but his defeat was compassed by reason of treachery 
within the party camp. When Montana was admitted to the 
Union in 1889 and a second constitutional convention was 
necessary he was again elected a member of that body and, 
as before, was chosen its presiding officer. Upon the first 
Legislative assembly, which convened in Helena in January, 
1890, devolved the duty of electing two United States sena- 
tors. The political muddle growing out of Precinct No. 34 
troubles resulted in the organization of two Houses of repre- 
sentatives and of the election of two sets of United States 
senators. The Democrats elected Mr. Clark and Mr. Maginnis, 
and the Republicans Mr. Sanders and Mr. T. C. Power. Mr. 
Clark received the unanimous vote of his party in caucus and 
in joint session, the claims of which were presented to the 
United States Senate and as that body was largely Republican 
at the time the issue did not remain long in doubt. Messrs. 
Sanders and Power were declared elected ; but Mr. Clark 
received from his party in the state the highest honor within 
its gift and is as proud of it as if he had enjoyed the full frui- 
tion of what he regards as a just and legal election. 

Again a senator was to be elected to succeed Colonel San- 
ders by the Legislature that convened in Helena in January, 
1893. In this body the Populists with three members held the 
balance of power. Mr. Clark again received a Democratic 
caucus nomination but a small contingent of Democrats under 
the avowed leadership of Mr. Marcus Daly refused to go into 
the caucus or abide by the decision of the majority. As a con- 
sequence the contest was protracted through the entire ses- 
sion of sixty days and the gavel fell the last joint session with 
no election as United States senator. 

It was a memorable contest in which party and factional 
strife ran high. On the last ballot and one or two preceding 
ones, Mr. Clark lacked but two votes of election, receiving the 
support of one Populist and several Republicans in addition to 
that of the faithful band of twenty-six Democrats that stood 
true to him from start to finish. Mr. Clark headed the delega- 
tion to the Democratic convention at Chicago in 1892 and was 
justly recognized by the administration in the distribution of 
federal patronage in the state. 

In reference to his entire public life it may be safely said 
that no man in Montana has been more highly honored by 



WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK. 559 

his party or has more readily deserved the confidence and 
leadership, with one accord, awarded to him. At all times 
and under all circumstances he has been faithful to his party, 
as constant and as true-fixed as the North star. 

In 1894 the permanent seat of government of Montana was 
located. In 1892 the first capital contest, in which several 
towns were entered, resulted in leaving Helena and Anaconda 
in the field as the only candidates which could lay claim to 
the suffrage of the people. Helena was the temporary capi- 
tal. Anaconda being the Anaconda Company's candidate 
had an immense financial backing and enjoyed the advantage 
of a powerful political alliance. For a time it seemed that 
this town, owned and controlled by one corporation, would 
win the day. People who feared the consequences of such an 
outcome were without leadership on which they could lean 
with confidence. Helena forces were without organization. 
At this juncture. Mr. Clark, whose home is within plain view 
of the Anaconda mines, in Butte, and who was, therefore, 
surrounded by the strongest Anaconda influences in the 
state, cast aside all personal and political ambitions and 
entered the fight for the people. From the day that he made 
his decision known through the columns of his newspaper, 
the Butte Miner, until election day, he was the recognized 
leader of the Helena forces. Not only did he contribute 
liberally of his time and means but he took the stump and 
addressed the people in the principal cities of the state, mak- 
ing a powerful and eloquent appeal to their pride and patriot- 
ism. 

Never in the history of this or any other state was a battle 
more intense or exciting. Never did the people more keenly 
feel that their rights and liberty were at stake and never did 
a citizen receive a greater or more spontaneous ovation than 
that which Mr. Clark enjoyed, when, after having unques- 
tionably snatched victory from defeat, the people of that state 
gathered in thousands at Helena to do him honor. The 
citizens bore him on their shoulders from his train, placed him 
in the carriage, and then" detached the horses, took their 
places at the poles and triumphantly hauled it to the city as a 
victor's chariot. It was a battle never to be forgotten and 
the unprecedented expressions of gratitude which were 
showered upon Mr. Clark form a climax of triumph such as 



560 LEADERS OF MEN. 

rarely crowns the efforts of any American citizen. It was a 
victory which easily gives Mr. Clark rank as the first citizen 
of his state and one of the most commanding figures of the 
West. 

In 1895, the Legislature was largely Republican, but a few 
Democrats who were in the House and Senate again made 
Mr. Clark their nominee for the United States Senate. In 
1898-9 the Democrats again secured control of the state by a 
large majority and Mr. Clark was the chief figure in the 
contest. This was much embittered by the war waged against 
him by Marcus Daly, of the Anaconda Copper Company, of 
which Mr. Daly was president and general manager. The 
Daly forces, by combining with a man by the name of Con- 
rad, secured control of the House of Representatives and 
elected the speaker, a pronounced Daly man. Prior to the 
meeting of the Legislature the Anaconda Standard, Daly's 
personal organ, made a bitter fight against Mr. Clark, pre- 
dicting that bribery would be resorted to to secure his 
election, and making the broad statement that any member 
of the Legislature who voted for Mr. Clark would be branded 
as a bribe-taker upon the day appointed by law to vote for 
United States senator. A resolution was introduced into the 
House of Representatives charging that bribery had been 
resorted to in order to secure the election of Mr. Clark, sug- 
gesting that a committee be appointed to investigate these 
charges. The speaker appointed a committee all of whom 
were avowed enemies of Mr. Clark. 

A resolution was also introduced into the Senate which 
named a committee from that body, all of whom were opposed 
to Mr. Clark. The committee held several secret sessions and 
when the hour arrived to vote, a man, by the name of White- 
side, appeared at the bar of the House exhibiting $30,000 
which he claimed that he and others had received for agree- 
ing to support Mr. Clark for the United States Senate. Imme- 
diately following this incident Mr. Clark branded it as a 
conspiracy and demanded a rigid investigation by the 
local authorities. The judge of the district court ordered a 
grand jury impaneled, which consumed upwards of two 
weeks in investigating the charges preferred by Mr. Daly and 
his friends, and finally reported that there was no foundation 
for the charges made nor evidence to be had sustaining them. 



WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK. 561 

In the meantime the vote for senator continued. Each 
day Mr. Clark gained votes, and immediately upon the adjourn- 
ment of the grand jury, he received fifty-five votes, seven 
more than the required number to elect. 

On the eventful morning of the day of election the Repub- 
lican members, of whom there were sixteen all told, in both 
Houses, held a secret caucus to determine whom they should 
support that day for senator. Previous to this they had cast 
their vote for different candidates for the high office day by 
day, and out of the sixteen, twelve agreed to and did support 
Mr. Clark, insuring his election. Later, the twelve Republic- 
ans who voted for Mr. Clark assigned as their reason for 
doing so, in effect, that Mr. Daly and the Anaconda Copper 
Company had dominated the politics of the state of Montana 
too long, that their growing power and arrogant methods had 
become a menace to all political parties, and that the interests 
of the state would be best subserved by the election of Mr. 
Clark and the defeat of the Daly faction. It has developed 
that the very large majority of the people of the state of Mon- 
tana, regardless of politics, acquiesce in and are rejoiced at 
the election of Mr. Clark, and are entirely satisfied with the 
result of the great contest. 

The subsequent continuation of this contest in the United 
States Senate and its outcome, as well as the triumphal vindi- 
cation of Senator Clark by the Legislature of his state in 1901, 
has now become a part of our contemporary history. That 
the conspiracy itself was the result of ignoble motives, as it 
was groundless in point of legal evidence, cannot at this date 
be denied ; and far from besmirching the personal integrity 
and reputation of Mr. Clark, the apparent insincerity of the 
whole course of proceedings have only tended to put him in a 
place of higher regard and public esteem. 

In March, 1*869, Mr. Clark was married to Kate L. Stauffer 
of Connellsville, Pa. Almost immediately the couple started 
for their distant home in the mountains, where they resided 
at Helena, later at Deer Lodge and still later in Butte City. 
In 1879 Mr. Clark took his family to Paris, where they 
remained three years, all of them, including himself, having 
acquired a thorough knowledge of the French language. He 
then sent them to Dresden, Germany, for two years to acquire 
a knowledge of the German language. During these years, 



562 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Mr. Clark spent the winters in Europe and he and Mrs. Clark 
and the eldest children traveled extensively through the 
Continent and in parts of Asia and Africa. In late years, 
besides their beautiful home in Butte, they have maintained 
a residence in the fashionable district of New York city, 
where a portion of each year is spent. Mr. Clark's home in 
New York is one of the most notable in that city of splendid 
palaces and has been furnished and decorated with rare speci- 
mens of art, to the collection of which he has devoted much 
time and a large amount of money. His art collection is one 
of the utmost value and embraces works by Millet, Rousseau, 
Corot, Daubigny, Zeim, Casin, Delacroix, Fortuny, I/Hermite, 
and La Font. Personally Mr. Clark impresses one as a man 
of extensive and varied culture. He is a lover of literature 
and patron of art, while in point of attainment as a public 
speaker and an administrator he has shown eminent capa- 
bilities. 

This sketch of Mr. Clark is necessarily general in charac- 
ter ; to go into the interesting details of his life, of the strug- 
gles of his early manhood, successes of later days, would 
require a volume in itself and one that would not be lacking 
in intense interest. Enough has been submitted, however, to 
prove that he is entitled to a place in the first ranks of the 
brave, determined, energetic, and self-made men of the West 
who have builded a new empire in the last quarter of a 
century. 

Mr. Clark is yet in the prime of life and is pushing on to 
greater and grander achievements. Though a man of large 
wealth, he is still the same warm and steadfast friend, the 
same genial companion as in the years of his tensest struggles 
and greatest difficulties. He has accumulated riches without 
arrogance, a rare case indeed. Above all, he is a good citizen, 
public spirited and patriotic, proud of his state and of the 
greatest mining camp on earth, which is indebted in so large a 
measure to him for its present prosperity. 

METHOD. 

RDER is heaven's first law," it is said ; also, 
" Method consists in the right choice of means to 
an end." Here is a distinction, though the two 
words cover the line of thought we wish to express. 





SENATOR WILLIAM A. CLARK. 



METHOD 565 

We select " method " because it is the term used in speak- 
ing of all kinds of business. " Without method, little can be 
done to any good purpose.*' 

We say of one person, referring to business, he is method- 
ical or systematic ; of another, he is orderly, meaning what 
the proverb does, "A place for everything and everything in 
its place." This is the ground our subject covers, including, 
perhaps, the thought embraced in another maxim, " A time 
for everything and everything in its time.'' 

The benefits of method are dispatch, larger achievements, 
better quality, and greater ease and comfort in work. There 
is attraction, even beauty, also, in a business that moves, like 
the works of a clock, without friction. The systematic divis- 
ion of time and labor in our day, in all great manufactories, 
is to secure large and quicker results, as well as better goods. 
In an armory, thirty men, each producing his particular part 
of the musket, will make more and better muskets in a given 
time. In a store where each employee knows his time, place, 
and work, and is true thereto, more is done, and better done, 
and done at less cost, than can be possible otherwise. In 
the home where time and labor are adjusted with reference 
to the best results, the orderly housewife, rising at an 
appointed time, regular as the sun, doing her work as method- 
ically as the state department is run, more is accomplished, 
all is better done, and that home is more attractive. In the 
schoolroom, the pupil who yields cheerfully to the method of 
the teacher, observing the precise time for studying this, that, 
and the other lesson, with books, papers, slate, pencil, and 
other helps arranged in order on his or her desk, will do far 
better work, and contribute more to the success of the school, 
than the pupil who is restive under rigid method, and whose 
desk is suggestive of chaos. 

Method has industry, punctuality, observation, persever- 
ance, self-control, and other indispensable virtues in its train. 
It cannot exist without them, and carries them along up into 
manhood and womanhood to bless the whole life. Method in 
early life assures method in later life. 

John Kitto, a poor boy who lost his hearing by an accident, 
had so great a thirst for knowledge that a benevolent gentle- 
man took him out of the poorhouse and sent him to school. 
His strong desire to make the most of his time and opportu- 



566 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



nities led him into very methodical ways. After a little, he 
wrote to his benefactor that he had reduced his labors to a 
system, so that he might be able to tell where he was and 
what he was doing at any time of the day or week, at the 
same time sending to his benefactor a copy of the following 
diagram. The spaces in the original diagram were distin- 
guished by the colors of which here only the names are given. 





Morn. 


A. M. 


P. M. 


Evening 


Night 


Sunday 


Red, 1 


Brown, 2 


Brown 


Brown 


Pink, 3 


Monday 


Yellow, 4 


Yellow 


Pink 


Pink 


Pink 


Tuesday 


Red 


Yellow 


Pink 


Pink 


Pink 


Wednesday 


Green, 5 


Yellow 


Green 


Green 


Pink 


Thursday 


Yellow 


Yellow 


Pink 


Pink 


Pink 


Friday 


Red 


Yellow 


Blue, 6 


Blue 


Pink 


Saturday 


Red 


Scarlet, 7 


' Red 


Red 


Pink 



1. Optional. 2. Writing to Mr. Woolcombe. 3. Reading. 4. Gram- 
mar. 5. Writing to Mr. Harvey. 6. Extracting. 7. Church. 

He added : " Those portions of time which I have used 
optionally, will be occupied in reading, writing, or walking, 
as circumstances may dictate or permit. I shall spend all the 
time I possibly can in the library rather than at my lodgings ; 
but when not at the library, I shall be at Mr. Barnard's, unless 
I take a walk during one of the optional periods." 

With this diagram and explanation, Mr. Harvey could tell 
where his protege was at any given time, and what he was 
doing. Indeed, he might have regulated his watch by this 
rigid method. 

Kitto carried this method into the exhausting labors of 
manhood, when he prepared his "Bible Illustrations," and 
other great works. He claimed that it would have been 
impossible for him to have produced these works without sys- 
tematic labor. He was such a thorough believer in method to 
assure dispatch that, in manhood, he required his daughter to 
clean his study by the following rules : — 

1. Make one pile of religious books. 

2. Another of books not religious. 

3. Another of letters. 



METHOD. 567 

4. Another of written papers other than that of letters. 

5. Another of printed papers. 

6. Put these piles upon the floor. 

7. The table being now clear, dust and scour it. 

The celebrated Nathaniel Emmons claimed that he could 
not work at all, unless order reigned about him. For more 
than fifty years the same chairs stood in the same places in his 
study, his hat hung on the same hook, the shovel stood on the 
north side of the open fireplace, and the tongs on the south 
side. During all these years he sat in the same chair to write 
his sermons, and the chair occupied the same place ; he wore 
a hole through the floor where he sat, so that a new floor for 
that spot was necessary. One of his students of theology, 
who resided in the family, says of his orderly habits : - 

" One day I was sitting by the fire with him, when a brand 
fell upon the hearth. I arose and put the brand in its place, 
but put the tongs on the north side of the fireplace. The doc- 
tor immediately removed the tongs to the south side, but said 
nothing. In a few minutes another brand fell, which I 
replaced with the tongs, then setting the tongs again on the 
north side with the shovel. The doctor arose again and 
changed the tongs from the north to the south side. Soon the 
brand fella third time, and, as the doctor's movements 
appeared to me very singular, I determined to find out what 
they meant. Having adjusted the brands, therefore, I placed 
the tongs designedly along with the shovel on the north. The 
doctor arose, put the tongs in their place on the south side, and 
said : — 

"'My young friend, as you are going to stay with me, I 
wish to tell you now that I keep the shovel on the north side 
of my fire and the tongs on the south." *' 

Students, like business men, can accomplish much more by 
a methodical way of doing than could be possible otherwise. 

Cecil, who was a prodigious worker, said : — 

" Method is like packing things in a box ; a good packer 
will get in half as much again as a bad one." 

That quaint old divine, Fuller, was wont to advise : " Mar- 
shal thy notions into a handsome method. One will carry 
twice more weight trussed and packed up in bundles than 
when it lies untowardly flapping and hanging about his 
shoulders." 



568 



LEADERS OF MEN. 



Noah Webster never could have prepared his dictionary in 
thirty-six years, unless the most exacting method had come to 
the rescue. That saved him from ten to twenty years and a 
vast amount of anxiety and trouble. 

The biographer of Gideon Lee says of him : " He was so 
systematic that he kept all accounts posted up to each night, 
and all correspondence answered, so that up to the evening 
preceding his last illness everything was in its place. With- 
out this system and regularity, he could not have accom- 
plished a tithe of his projects.'' It was equally true of Amos 
Lawrence in keeping his business accounts ; and he gave as a 
reason for his method, " I may not be here to-morrow.'" 

The Bible says, "To everything there is a season, and a 
time for every purpose under heaven. " That certainly includes 
human plans ; and there is no way of adjusting one's life to 
this fact of Providence except by method. 






CHAPTER XXVII. 

JOHN PIERPONT MORGAN. 

ON AIDS TO SUCCESS BIRTHPLACE DESCENDED FROM AN OLD AMER- 
ICAN FAMILY HOW EDUCATED BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER AS A BANKER 

INHERITED ADVANTAGES 1. P. MORGAN & COMPANY — WHAT MR. MOR- 
GAN DOES SECRET OF HIS POWER IN FINANCIAL CIRCLES AN INCES- 
SANT WORKER PERSONAL APPEARANCE — METHOD OF TRANSACTING BUS- 
INESS HIS WONDERFUL KNOWLEDGE OF MEN REORGANIZER AND CON- 

STRUCTER HIS NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNITED 

STATES GOVERNMENT ART COLLECTOR HIS FONDNESS FOR YACHTING 

GIFTS TO PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS CHARACTERISTICS. HOW GREAT THINGS 

ARE DONE. 



No general formula for the successful accomplishment of 
all things by all persons can, in my judgment, be made. Men 
differ ; so do conditions. 

In all large permanent successes, how- 
ever, certain elements are plainly discern- 
ible. Foremost among these I should place 
honesty of purpose, energy, confident judg- 
ment, knowledge of men and values, and 
the ability to construct and harmonize. But 
above and beyond these is the man himself 
— a force that oftentimes outweighs any 
mere catalogue of qualifications. Energy 
may fail, judgment may fail, or any other of 
the special qualities referred to may fail, but the man himself 
comes to the rescue. 





FEW months ago an American citizen without title or 
office landed in England, and so apprehensive was 
Threadneedle street of his power in the financial 
world, and of the effect which his sudden death might have 



570 LEADERS OF MEN. 

on the markets, that certain brokers, to protect themselves in 
their American investments, immediately took the extraordi- 
nary measure of applying to Lloyd's for insurance on his life, 
paying premiums at the rate of thirty pounds on the thousand 
for three months. 

This citizen was J. Pierpont Morgan, who had just organ- 
ized the most powerful industrial and financial institution the 
world has ever known. It matters not whether he was a large 
owner in the United States Steel Corporation ; as its recog- 
nized and actual dictator he controlled a yearly income and 
expenditure nearly as great as that of imperial Germany, 
paid taxes on a debt greater than that of many of the lesser 
nations of Europe, and, by employing two hundred and fifty 
thousand men, supported a population of over one million 
souls, almost a nation in itself. Iron and steel making has 
long been known as the basic industry. England's great- 
ness and Germany's recent progress were due largely to their 
ability to produce iron and steel cheaply and in large quanti- 
ties. Mr. Morgan, as ironmaster, controlling the world's 
greatest and cheapest sources of iron supply, threatened the 
trade and profits of England and Germany, both of which 
had already felt the sharp tooth of American competition. 
It is no wonder, therefore, that he was regarded at the 
moment as the American peril incarnate. 

While in England Mr. Morgan bought — whether for him- 
self or for American clients, it matters not — one of the great- 
est of English steamship companies, the Leyland line, operat- 
ing thirty-eight vessels between Europe and America. This 
move, following so closely upon the organization of the Steel 
Trust, was interpreted at first as a blow to England's suprem- 
acy on the seas. It was natural and inevitable that Europe 
should anxiously inquire as to the further intentions of this 
man, to whom the purchase of a great steamship line seemed 
only the incident of a holiday. 

About the same time still another episode brought into 
high relief Mr. Morgan's power. A panic occurred in the 
London Stock Exchange, resulting from the great financial 
struggle between Mr. Morgan and certain opposing interests 
for the control of the Northern Pacific Railway. A number of 
English traders must have faced ruin, with serious subsequent 
effects to the whole market, if Mr. Morgan had not stepped in 



J. PIERPONT MORGAN. 571 

and relieved the situation by accepting small payments from 
the distressed traders where he might have exacted his pound 
of flesh. 

No one could follow the accounts of his doings in England, 
and of the deep concern which his presence caused, without 
realizing the meaning of power. Mr. Morgan, no doubt, con- 
trols and influences more money and money interests to-day 
than any other man in the world. Perhaps no one, not even 
Mr. Morgan himself, fully realizes the responsibility and grav- 
ity of that power. Certain it is that the death to-day of Mr. 
Morgan would disturb more capital and shake more settled 
business institutions than the death of almost any sovereign 
in Europe. 

If Mr. Morgan were merely rich, he would not be worth 
thoughtful attention except as a social problem, but his own 
riches constitute the least of his claims to distinction. Now- 
adays a rich man has little more opportunity to reach a com- 
manding place in the world than a poor man, and often his 
riches hamper his advancement. Native force and genius, 
sustained with hard work, govern progress among men of 
wealth as in any other class. Twenty-five years ago Mr. 
Morgan was practically unknown even in Wall- street, and 
he could hardly be called wealthy as wealth is now measured. 
By deep thinking and hard work he has reached at the age of 
sixty-four years, the foremost place in American finance. 
He is the most advanced expression of a new world move- 
ment, that of ''community of interest," of consolidation ; he 
saw that great combinations were to constitute the next step 
in the development of industry and commerce, and he took 
early advantage of his sagacity. 

Mr. Morgan, therefore, is to be considered not as a million- 
aire, but as a man of original force. Whether or not he has 
used his unquestioned genius to the highest purpose, whether 
or not he deserves all the credit or all the abuse that he has 
received, are questions the future alone will be able to 
answer. 

Americans of great wealth may be divided into two 
classes : those who are self-made and those who inherit their 
riches. The self-made millionaire, although by no means 
unknown in old Europe, is peculiarly an American product, 
and there is no story which bites more keenly on our popular 



572 LEADERS OF MEN. 

imagination than that of the poor farmer lad — never a plain 
" boy"' — who hoed potatoes at twenty-five cents a day, and 
grew to be worth twenty-five millions. To this class belong 
such men as Huntington, Armour, the first Astor, the first 
Vanderbilt, Peter Cooper, Jay Gould, Hill, and Pullman. 
They have all been bold, active, fearless men, sometimes 
rough and unpolished, sometimes unprincipled, always force- 
ful and original. To their sons and successors these men left 
their money, but rarely their force and daring. Passiveness, 
polish, and conservatism naturally succeed creative activity, 
and the later Astors, Vanderbilts, and Goulds have been con- 
servators rather than creators. J. Pierpont Morgan possesses 
the somewhat rare distinction, in America, of belonging to both 
of these classes. Born to considerable wealth, surrounded in 
his youth by evidences of culture, and carefully educated, he 
could have led a life of leisure if it had so pleased him. It 
was of his own motion that he chose a business career. 

It is a significant fact that much of the great wealth of our 
country belongs to men who sprung from very old American 
families. The Morgan family dates back to 1636, when Miles 
Morgan, first of the name, landed on the soil of New England, 
and became one of the company which founded the town of 
Springfield, Massachusetts. Joseph Morgan, grandfather of 
J. Pierpont, was a farmer and tavern-keeper in Hartford, Con- 
necticut, with a Revolutionary War record. Joseph left his 
son Junius Spencer, the present Morgan 's father, a good prop- 
erty on what is now Asylum Hill, Hartford. Junius Spencer, 
full of energy and business acumen, was a bank clerk while 
hardly more than a boy, then a partner in the dry goods busi- 
ness with Levi P. Morton (afterwards Vice-President of the 
United States), and later an associate of the millionaire phi- 
lanthropist, George Peabody. He made money rapidly, estab- 
lished a successful banking house in London, with branches 
in America and Australia, and laid the foundation upon which 
his son rose to preeminence. At the age of twenty-three he 
married Juliet. Pierpont, the daughter of the Rev. John Pier- 
pont, poet and preacher, an original thinker, and a combative 
reformer, though not particularly endowed with practical wis- 
dom. Pierpont was the author of the ringing old poem 
beginning : — 

" Stand ' the ground 's your own, my braves." 



J. PIERPONT MORGAN. 573 

Mr. Morgan was born April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connect- 
icut, where he continued to live until he was fourteen years 
old, attending a neighboring country school for several years. 
In 1851 his father moved to Boston, and J. Pierpont became a 
student in the famous English High School, graduating at the 
age of eighteen. He is described as being a boy of sturdiness 
and independence, not talkative, taking small part in the 
social side of his school life and not at all distinguished in his 
studies, except possibly in mathematics. At one time in his 
youth, an old friend of the family told me, young Morgan had 
a decided inclination toward poetry writing. For two years 
after he left Boston he was a student at the University of Got- 
tingen, Germany. At the age of twenty-one he embarked on 
his career as a banker, receiving his first experience with the 
house of Duncan, Sherman & Co., of New York city. 

One of the most complicated departments of banking is 
that of foreign exchange ; it is also the department which has* 
had the greatest growth in America in recent years. Through 
his father's world-wide connections, as well as in his own bus- 
iness relationships, Mr. Morgan attained a thorough knowledge 
of every intricacy of the foreign business. He acquired a 
mastery of the delicate relationships between the business 
transactions of nation and nation and he saw the world's 
credit system in its broader aspects. Many an able banker is 
limited by the lack of such a breadth of view, the possession 
of which must have counted high in many of Mr. Morgan's 
achievements. It is significant of the elder Morgan's idea of 
a banker 's education that he appointed his son, J. Pierpont, 
to a position in the foreign exchange department of the 
bank at the very beginning of his career, and when he had 
mastered the American end of the business he was sent to 
London. 

All who knew Mr. Morgan in early life agree that from the 
very beginning he exhibited the cardinal feature of his char- 
acter, the capacity for pursuing his own way without advice, 
and that, independent of his father, he worked with him 
rather as man with man than as son with father. In 18G0, at 
the age of twenty-three, he became the American agent for 
George Peabocty & Company, of London, and with that firm 
his experience began in the handling of large funds, and he 
acquired familiarity with the risks and responsibilities of great 



574 LEADERS OF MEN. 

business transactions. At the age of twenty-seven he helped 
organize the firm of Dabney, Morgan & Company, and seven 
years later, in 1871, he formed a combination with the wealthy 
Drexels of Philadelphia, the firm being known as Drexel, 
Morgan & Company. In 1805 Drexel, Morgan & Company 
became J. P. Morgan & Company, and, Mr. Morgan's father 
having died in 1800, the London house of J. S. Morgan & 
Company, and the Paris branch of Morgan, Harjes & Com- 
pany, with all their connections the world over, fell under the 
sole dictatorship of J. P. Morgan, and to-day J. P. Morgan is 
the supreme director of all this great financial machine. 

Significant of the changing centers of the world's money 
power is the fact that J. S. Morgan, the father, directed his 
banks from London, while J. Pierpont Morgan, the son, 
directs the larger system from New York. It was character- 
istic also that Morgan should have finally dominated every 
' man and every firm with whom he came in contact ; he must, 
by nature, be absolute dictator or nothing. It is for this rea- 
son, no doubt, that his house has remained a private bank — 
a private bank giving larger scope and freedom of action than 
a national bank, or any institution limited by fixed rules and 
subject to the divided mind of a board of directors. J. P. 
Morgan & Company is not a corporation. It is a partnership. 
There are many partners — in all eleven besides Mr. Morgan 
— and most of them men of the first rank, though wholly 
under the influence of the vital personality of the senior mem- 
ber. 

Comparatively few people possess any very clear concep- 
tion of what Mr. Morgan is or does in Wall street. He is 
vaguely compared with Mr. Keene, who is a speculator ; with 
Jay Gould, who was a wrecker ; with Hill and Harriman, who 
are strictly railroad men ; with the Astors, who are primarily 
real-estate owners ; with Carnegie, who was an ironmaster. 
But Mr. Morgan's business is purely that of a banker — a 
worker with money. As such he acts as an agent for rich 
clients in the investment of money ; he loans, borrows, trans- 
mits money abroad, issues letters of credit, and buys and sells 
securities which are the evidences of money. The extensive 
foreign connections of J. P. Morgan & Company enable the firm 
to do a large business in foreign exchange. The interchange of 
merchandise commodities between the United States and the 



J. PIERPONT MORGAN. 575 

rest of the world now amounts to the vast sum of seventy- 
seven million dollars for every business day of the year. The 
banker who issues the drafts or the credits makes a profit on 
every dollar conveyed. J. P. Morgan & Company transact a 
large share of this business. 

Mr. Morgan is not a practical railroad man, nor a steel 
manufacturer, nor a coal dealer, although he is interested in 
all these things, because he is constantly buying and selling 
railroad and steel and coal stocks. Sometimes for some spe- 
cific purpose he buys so much of a railroad company's stock 
that he and his clients practically own the railroad, and he 
takes a strong position in directing its policy. Not long ago I 
heard an apparently intelligent speaker who conveyed the 
impression that Morgan bought a railroad out of his surplus 
cash as a farmer buys a cow. Nothing could be farther from 
the truth. While Mr. Morgan must make use of his own 
large means, it no doubt forms but a small part in his vast 
deals. The essence of successful banking is connections, 
otherwise, friends. While coveting large earnings capital is 
proverbially shrinking and timid, fearing to strike out boldly 
for itself, and yet ever ready to trust itself with confidence to 
the leader whose skill, foresight, and cautious daring have 
been steadily fruitful of success. Such a money-master is J. 
Pierpont Morgan. The millionaire Peabody trusted him first, 
then the Drexels with their vast fortunes, then the Vander- 
bilts, for whom he made a profitable sale of bonds early in his 
career. All through these years he has thus built up an army 
of powerful connections, not only in America, but in England, 
France, and Germany, so that more and more millions of 
capital follow the dictates of his judgment. 

A number of men in Wall street who knew Mr. Morgan 
and his methods intimately — and some were his friends and 
some his enemies — were asked how he attained the leading 
position in the world of finance. The answers were : " He 
does exactly as he agrees to do." " He keeps his word." 
" He is an honest man." And one said : " He is a gentleman 
in his business dealings." It is plain that Mr. Morgan would 
not have the handling of such important interests unless men 
of money trusted him. But a leader must not only be honest ; 
he must justify his leadership by success. The value of his 
judgment must be vindicated in good times and bad, else his 



576 LEADERS OF MEN. 

splendid following will surely fall apart. His followers must 
continue to regard him as strong and wise. It should not be 
forgotten that Mr. Morgan has been working doggedly at his 
profession for forty-four years, and that his prestige and pre- 
eminence are of no sudden growth. With these facts in mind 
it is plain why Mr. Morgan's life is now so precious to the 
markets. When he drops out there is a possibility that some 
of the warring interests which he now holds together with an 
iron hand, as he holds the rival coal railroads of Pennsyl- 
vania, for example, may clash; the aggregation of capital 
which he now leads to swift successes may be unable to find 
at once another master in whose judgment it reposes such 
confidence, and it may begin to withdraw from the great 
activities to which Mr. Morgan has spurred it, and with- 
drawal of capital means stringency and falling prices. 

Besides his own private banking house here and its 
branches abroad, Mr. Morgan largely controls a powerful 
national bank in New York city — the National Bank of 
Commerce, of which he is the vice-president. It is known in 
Wall street as "Morgan's Bank." He is a dominating influ- 
ence in other banks and financial institutions and a direc- 
tor never without much influence in twenty-one railroad 
companies, great and small, including the New York Central 
and Lake Shore systems. He is a director in the Western 
Union Telegraph Company, the Pullman Palace Car Com- 
pany, the ^Etna Fire Insurance Company, the General Electric 
Company, the greatest electric company in the world, and in 
other less important corporations. And through his partners, 
who are directors in other railroad and steel corporations, his 
influence reaches far and wide. He is a potent, and in times 
of trouble the controlling, factor in several of what are known 
as the "coal roads "of Pennsylvania — the Erie, the Lehigh 
Valley, the Central of New Jersey, and the Reading, together 
with their tributary coal fields. He is the predominating 
influence in the Southern railway and in three of its connec- 
tions, the foremost railroad system of the Southern states, 
with over eight thousand miles of track, a system which he 
has created, and of which an associate and friend is president. 
He is also a power in many other railroads, as witness his 
recent appointment of the directors of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad, and his evident influence through J. J. Hill in the 



J. PIERPONT MORGAN. 577 

Burlington and Great Northern management. And, as I 
have already said, he is at present practically dictator of the 
vast steel interests of the country, through the United States 
Steel Corporation, and he controls at least one Atlantic steam- 
ship line. 

It is impossible, of course, for any outsider to know Mr. 
Morgan 's exact influence in any one of these vast business 
concerns. It may be set down for a fact that if Mr. Morgan's 
interests reach into any corporation even slightly, and Mr. 
Morgan chooses to dictate, his word is going a long way. 
" Why," exclaimed a somewhat enthusiastic admirer of Mr. 
Morgan 's, " if he owned one share in a railroad company and 
wanted to boss, he'd boss."' Indeed, he has something to do 
with so many widely diverse interests, that he occasionally 
finds one of his companies fighting another, as when, the other 
day, the General Electric Company began suit against the 
Lorain Steel Company, one of the components of the Steel 
Trust. If anything dim and big in the way of business is 
impending in Wall street, brokers tell with bated breath that 
Mr. Morgan, or, as it is usually expressed, " The old man," is 
behind it. He is the bogy of the street. Indeed, it is amus- 
ing to behold in what awe Mr. Morgan is everywhere held. 
Every one who speaks of him or about him must first be 
assured that the disclosures will go no further, as if he were 
committing a sort of treason. 

And Mr. Morgan himself sits in his office and works pro- 
digiously, apparently paying no attention to what is said 
about him, whether good or evil. Mr. Morgan "s office occu- 
pies the first floor of a large, somewhat old-fashioned building, 
standing at the corner of Wall and Broad streets, New York 
city, the financial center of our country and of the world. On 
one side in Wall street rises grimly the columned portals of 
the United States Sub-Treasury building, with George Wash- 
ington standing in bronze dignity in front. On the other side, 
in Broad street, facing Mr. Morgan 's window, the new Stock 
Exchange is building. Within a radius of a quarter of a mile 
are gathered some of the richest banks in America, and the 
office whence most of the great railroad and other corpora- 
tions of the country are controlled. Uncounted millions of 
dollars' worth of business — American, European, Australian. 
Chinese, African — is there transacted every hour. But in 



578 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the crook of the steps of Mr. Morgan's office a man makes a 
good living selling lemonade and chewing gum, and he looks 
contented, too. 

To Mr. Morgan's office come railroad presidents, bank 
presidents, and the heads of great corporations, to consult 
with him, and once the Secretary of the United States Treas- 
ury came to seek his aid in preserving the solvency of the 
United States Government. He rarely goes to them ; they all 
come to him. Until recently any man might walk up to his 
desk, which stands in plain view from the outer office, with- 
out the formality of presenting a card ; but while approach- 
able, it would be an intrepid man indeed who would call upon 
him without definite business in hand. 

Mr. Morgan impresses one as a large man, thick of chest, 
with a big head set close down on burly shoulders, features 
large, an extraordinarily prominent nose, keen gray eyes, 
deep set under heavy brows, a high, fine forehead, a square, 
bulldog chin. His hair is iron-gray and thin, and his mus- 
tache is close cropped. For a man of his age and size he 
seems unusually active, moving about with almost nervous 
alertness. He is a man of few words, always sharply and 
shortly spoken. When a man comes to him Mr. Morgan looks 
at him keenly, waiting for him to speak first, and his decision 
follows quickly. 

A young broker, who had never met Mr. Morgan before, 
went to him not long ago to borrow nearly a million dollars 
for a client. He told Mr. Morgan what he wanted in half a 
dozen words, and handed him the list of securities to be 
deposited as collateral. Mr. Morgan looked sharply at his 
visitor, "looked at me as if he saw clear through me," as 
the broker expressed it, then glanced swiftly down the list. 
"I '11 take the loan," he said, and passed the borrower on to 
one of his partners. That was all. The whole transaction, 
involving a loan larger than the yearly business of many a 
small bank, had not taken a minute and a half, and Mr. 
Morgan's side of the conversation had consumed not more 
than a dozen words. 

Mr. Morgan knows to the last degree the psychology of 
meeting and dealing with men. The man who sits in his 
office, a citadel of silence and reserve force, and makes his 
visitor uncover his batteries is impregnable. That is Mr. 



J. PIERPONT MORGAN. 579 

Morgan's way — the way he dealt with a certain owner of 
coal lands in Pennsylvania who knew that Mr. Morgan must 
have his property, and so had come down prepared to exact 
a good price, to "thresh it out with Morgan." Mr. Morgan 
kept him waiting a long time, and then he came out bulky, 
cold, impressive, looked the coal man in the eye, and only 
broke the silence to say, " I '11 give you $ for your prop- 
erty." And there the bargain was closed. His way is to deal 
brusquely in ultimatums ; he says : "I '11 do this," or, " I '11 
do that," and that settles it. 

All who know say that Mr. Morgan does not ask advice, 
hot even of his partners, and that when he makes up his 
mind nothing short of a cataclysm will divert him. No 
doubt his confidence in himself inspires confidence in others. 
He may make and must have made mistakes, but he goes 
tramping forward as though nothing had happened, and even 
his partners may be more than half convinced that nothing 
has happened or else that it is all a skillful feint in some 
unsuspected manceuver. 

Mr. Morgan has the surety of judgment and the broad- 
ness of mind which enable him to work with large numbers 
of men — a strong man with eyes on a clearly denned though 
distant purpose,which he alone perceives,marching ruthlessly 
forward until his goal is reached. It was Bismarck's way. 
We may not like such men, and the cries of those who are 
trampled upon may ring ugly in our ears, but this is the 
method of the men who accomplish things. 

Without what has been so well called the " leaping mind," 
Mr. Morgan never could have accomplished what he has. Mr. 
Morgan does not spend many hours at his office, and when he 
is there he rarely remains long at one desk. A man who 
was long associated with him told me how he "leaped" 
through his correspondence, how he was often complete mas- 
ter of a proposition before the explanations were half finished, 
and the lawyers who drew up the papers for the Steel Corpora- 
tion could hardly keep pace with his swiftly enunciated plans. 
Indeed, Mr. Morgan is given credit in Wall street, not so 
much for his skill in organizing the Steel Trust as he is for the 
speed with which the enormous task was accomplished. On 
December 12, 1900, he attended a dinner given at the Univer- 
sity Club by J. Edward Simmons,of the Fourth National Bank. 



580 LEADERS OF MEX. 

Charles M. Schwab was there and gave an illuminative 
address on the steel and iron industry. Mr. Morgan, though 
already a dominant factor in three steel combinations, had 
never before met Mr. Schwab, but he was so impressed with 
his address, that he conceived the idea of a gigantic com- 
bination of the steel interests in America. Three months 
later the largest corporation in the world was organized, with 
Mr. Schwab as its president, and the stock was on sale. 

As yet no account has been given except incidentally, of 
what Mr. Morgan has actually done to make him a great 
figure in finance. There is not space here to mention even 
briefly half of the great money maneuvers which he ha£ 
planned and carried to success. First of all it is evident that 
Mr. Morgan has never been a wrecker, like Jay Gould ; he 
has always been an up-builder, or a creator. Most of his 
achievements have had for their object the saving of money 
waste. Economy in production, economy in management, 
economy in interest charges, are what he has always sought. 
That is why he never misses an opportunity to strike a blow 
at competition in whatever form it may appear. Rival com- 
panies compete and lose money ; Mr. Morgan steps in and 
combines them, thus saving not only the losses due to the 
competition, but economizing also in administrative ex- 
penses. In times of great excitement in Wall street, when 
panic and loss threatened the entire country, Mr. Morgan has 
been the first to come to the rescue with his money and credit, 
knowing that panic and uncertainty are among the most 
fruitful sources of loss to capital. In the panic of December, 
1899, for instance, when call money reached one hundred and 
eighty-six per cent., Mr. Morgan at once poured several mil- 
lion dollars into the market, and instantly quieted the panic. 
For many years he has acted as a sort of balance-wheel to the 
country's finance, wielding his immense power and credit so 
as to steady the market when panic threatened. 

Mr. Morgan has been such a reorganizer and reconstructer 
of bankrupt corporations, especially railroad companies, that 
Wall street has come to call the process re-Morganizing. He 
acts, sometimes, as a sort of expert financial doctor, called 
in to treat financial illness for a few — and he knows as well 
how to charge as the best specialist in surgery. At other times 
he buys up a railroad, as a second-hand furniture dealer buys 



J. PIERPONT MORGAN. 581 

a dilapidated settee, refurbishes it with new upholstery, 
stiffens the legs, polishes up the varnish, and sells it for new 
at a big profit. One might also liken Mr. Morgan to a shrewd 
retail merchant, for he knows so well how to make his goods 
attractive that, when he places a fine new line of stocks and 
bonds in his window, they are recognized as the latest fash- 
ion, and find a ready market. 

But this reorganizing is a tremendously difficult business. 
For instance, in 1893, Mr. Morgan's firm took hold of what 
was then the Richmond and West Point Terminal Railway 
and Warehouse System, a loose, confused combination of 
some thirty jealous companies, all involved in bankruptcy, 
with some two hundred and fifty million dollars in securities 
outstanding. It required months merely to learn the nature 
of the business, and then Mr. Morgan took up the almost hope- 
less task of getting the consent of all the warring interests to 
his plan of reorganization. He had to persuade, frighten, or 
force crowds of creditors to bow to his will, besides providing 
the vast sums of money necessary to buy up claims and to 
support the railroad while the work of reorganization was 
going forward. It is impossible to give more than a hint of 
the complications involved in such an achievement ; in this 
case there were not fewer than twenty-six foreclosures. And 
at the last, in this as in every reorganization, Mr. Morgan 
was confronted with the great task of convincing the public 
that the new company could so operate the railroad, which 
had gone bankrupt before, that it would pay a profit, else the 
stocks and bonds would not sell. To-day the Southern Rail- 
way, which sprung from this feat of reorganization, is one of 
the best railroads in the country, doing a large part of the 
transportation business of the Southern states. In a similar 
manner Morgan's firm reorganized the West Shore Railroad in 
1885, and sold it to the New York Central, thereby stopping the 
fierce competition which was injuring both roads ; the Read- 
ing Railroad in 1886, the Chesapeake and Ohio in 1888, the 
Erie Railroad in 1895, the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1897. 
As far back as 1880 Mr. Morgan's firm furnished the money, 
forty million dollars, which enabled the Northern Pacific 
Railroad to build to the Pacific coast, and in 1887 it saved the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from insolvency by forming a 
syndicate to provide that company with ten million dollars. 



582 LEADERS OF MEN. 

However, many of Mr. Morgan's reorganizations are criti- 
cised in Wall street for being slow in paying profits, and he is 
accused in some quarters of over-capitalizing his corporations, 
basing the stock issue on the most favorable and promising 
aspects of the business, rather than on an average accomplish- 
ment. Many Wall street men assert that the new Steel Cor- 
poration has thus been over-capitalized, and that it can never 
earn the expected dividends on so large a capital. This view, 
however, is as strenuously combated in other quarters. 

Mr. Morgan's most noteworthy achievements have been 
the part he played at least three times in relieving the United 
States Government from serious financial embarrassment. 
As early as 1876, Drexel, Morgan & Company were the chief 
instruments in furnishing the cash for refunding the govern- 
ment debt, and placing the United States once more on a gold 
basis after the years of stress and paper money following the 
Civil War. The part that J. P. Morgan & Company played 
in 1895, when, after the panic of 1893, gold began to flow out 
of the country until it threatened the stability of the treasury, 
is familiar history. At that time Morgan and Belmont, with 
other bankers whom they had interested, agreed to buy two 
hundred million dollars' worth of government bonds, to pay 
for them in gold, and to prevent gold, as nearly as possible, 
from leaving the country. It was one of the greatest finan- 
cial undertakings ever attempted. In effect it placed all the 
credit of the private money interest of the country behind 
the government, and it saved the day. For this service 
J. P. Morgan & Company and associates exacted very large 
pay, and when roundly abused for it by the public and in 
Congress, they answered that their profits were not large con- 
sidering the magnitude and risk of the undertaking. In the 
threatened panic of the next year, 1890, Mr. Morgan offered 
again to provide gold for the government, but when the 
people demanded a popular loan, he immediately wrote to 
President Cleveland pledging him his support. 

In 1899 J. P. Morgan & Company took the lead in a signifi- 
cant departure in American finance. Until then London was 
the world money center, and the United States had, therefore, 
been a borrower, not a lender. But in 1899 Mr. Morgan's firm 
financed the first foreign loan ever negotiated here. With 
the assistance of its connections in Europe the entire foreign 



J. PIERPONT MORGAN. 583 

debt of Mexico, amounting to one hundred and ten million 
dollars, was converted. In 1900 the firm took the lead in help- 
ing to supply Great Britain with war money, placing twelve 
million dollars of bonds in this country, and since then it has 
taken part of several other foreign loans. 

These are only a few of the achievements of Mr. Morgan 
and his firm. A history of J. P. Morgan & Company for the 
last six years would constitute a fairly complete history of 
Wall street, and, indeed, of finance in the United States. 

Business by no means absorbs all of Mr. Morgan's energy. 
Perhaps his first interest outside of his work is his enthusi- 
asm as a collector of works of art. He is the possessor of 
many famous paintings and is interested in rare china, 
Limoges ware particularly. As evidences of his taste he has 
gathered and presented a collection of fabrics to Cooper 
Union, of rare gems to the American Museum of Natural 
History, of Greek ornaments to the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art. Yachting is his diversion, and he superintended the 
building of his steam yacht Corsair in every detail. For 
a long time he was commodore of the New York Yacht Club, 
to which he recently presented the land for a new club house. 
After a hard siege at business Mr. Morgan goes for a cruise, 
and it is related that he often takes with him a mass of 
papers, and that when his friends look for him he is to be 
found below deck buried deep in figures, utterly oblivious to 
his surroundings. Fond of a fine dinner, a connoisseur in 
wines, and a judge of cigars, he is temperate in all these. 
Caring little for society, he occasionally enjoys a quiet party, 
and may warm into talkativeness, though never on business 
subjects. Anyone who has seen him at the dinners of the 
New England Society knows that he enjoys them. There he 
will sometimes join in the singing, but it is very rarely that 
he makes a speech. None of his few intimate friends are 
among his business associates. The outward mark of esteem 
which Mr. Morgan bestows upon a man is to present him with 
a collie dog from the kennels of his country home. A mem- 
ber of many clubs, he is too busy to be much of a club man, 
but he has always been a churchgoer, and what is more, a 
church worker, being a vestryman of St. George's Church in 
Stuyvesant square, and the unfailing friend and helper of its 
rector, the Rev. Dr. Rainsford. He has taken especial inter- 



584 LEADERS OF MEN. 

est in the boys of the church, has helped devise means to 
keep them off the street and to teach them trades, and some- 
times he attends the evening sessions of their club and talks 
to them. Two of his known philanthropies have been the 
establishment, at a cost of over five hundred thousand dollars, 
of the now well known New York Trade School in the upper 
east side of New York, and the founding of a smaller trade 
school in connection with St. George's Church. 

Mr. Morgan has also given to Harvard University for the 
Medical School one million dollars ; for a great lying-in 
hospital near St. George's Church, one million three hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars ; for St. John's Cathedral, five hun- 
dred thousand dollars ; for help toward paying the debts of 
the Young Men's Christian Association, one hundred thousand 
dollars ; for the Loomis Hospital for Consumptives, some five 
hundred thousand dollars ; for a library in Holyoke, Massa- 
chusetts ( his father's birthplace ), one hundred thousand 
dollars ; for preserving the Palisades along the Hudson river, 
one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ; for a new 
parish house and rectory for St. George's Church, three hun- 
dred thousand dollars. He also contributed largely to the 
Queen Victoria memorial fund and to the Galveston relief 
fund ; he presented St. Paul's Cathedral in London with a 
complete electric plant, and built a hospital at Aix-les-Bains, 
France. 

And this is J. Pierpont Morgan, a powerful factor in one 
of the greatest departments of human activity, a man 
endowed with extraordinary energy and capacity, who has 
trampled forward in his own rough way, asking neither 
sympathy nor advice ; who has been widely trusted and 
feared, little liked and much abused ; who has attained great 
wealth, which he neither needed nor desired, except as a tool 
to carve a way to greater achievements ; who has worked 
prodigiously — in short, a man who has lived his life and 
fought his fight to the limit of his power. 

HOW GREAT THINGS ARE DONE. 

CERTAIN French preacher, whenever he appears in 
the pulpit of Notre Dame, draws all the elite of Paris 
to hear him ; so fascinating, eloquent, and polished are 
his discourses. How comes he to acquire this power ? He 




MR. J. RIKRl'ONT MORGAN. 



HOW GREAT THINGS ARE DONE. 587 

delivers but five or six sermons in the year, generally in the 
season of Lent, and then retires to his convent, to spend the 
rest of the year in reading and study, and in preparing his 
half dozen sermons for the next season. 

A preacher may compose fifty sermons in the year ; but 
then there will not be a masterpiece among them. Dr. Way- 
land took two years to compose his famous sermon on foreign 
missions ; but then it is a masterpiece, worth a ton of ordinary 
sermons. An eminent lawyer who, without any uncommon 
oratorical gifts, won nearly every case in which he was 
engaged, upon being asked how he did it, replied : "I learn 
all that can be learned of each case before it comes into 
court." 

After dictating an argument to Boswell, who was prepar- 
ing to speak before a committee of the House of Commons, 
Dr. Johnson said very wisely to him : " This you must 
enlarge on, when speaking to the committee. You must not 
argue there as if you were arguing in the schools ; close rea- 
soning will not fix their attention ; you must say the same 
thing over and over again in different words. If you say it 
but once, they miss it, in a moment of inattention. It is 
unjust, sir, to censure lawyers for multiplying words when 
they argue ; it is often necessary for them to multiply words.*' 

Perhaps the success of the great lawyers is largely owing 
to the same practice as that of tbe great preachers. The great 
aim of the latter is to make their point clear, and impress it on 
the minds of their hearers by every means in their power. 
"All great preachers," says Professor Tucker, ''succeed by 
ceaseless reiteration, under constantly varying forms, of a few 
conceptions that have become supreme in their experience." 

If one should be asked to give an example of a man of gen- 
ius who, from want of steady application to work, failed to 
produce what might reasonably be expected of him, he would 
probably be at a loss, for a moment, which among many ex- 
amples to choose. The name of Coleridge would probably come 
first to mind ; but disease and opium had much to do with his 
sad inactivity. He was a man of uncommon genius ; every- 
thing he has written bears the stamp of genius ; but his will - 
aye, that had nothing of the character of genius in it ; his will 
was wretchedly weak, and this was the cause of all his trouble. 
He planned many things, but accomplished few. He would 



588 LEADERS OF MEN. 

seldom even attempt to perform what he planned ; yet in plan- 
ning he was inexhaustible — boundless projects with very little 
performance. He was not, however, lacking in the will to 
talk, and his famous talks at Highgate had their effect on the 
crowds of young men who flocked to hear him, many of whom 
subsequently attained distinction. How often it thus happens 
that a man of the finest intellectual qualities has some fatal 
defect in his character which ruins him ! 

Perhaps no better example can be cited than that of a con- 
temporary of his, Sir James Mackintosh, a man of brilliant 
talents, famous for one or two splendid speeches, one or two 
finished essays, and one or two masterly philosophic disserta- 
tions. How came this man to produce so little ? The answer 
is given in his own words, merely premising that in his youth 
he had been allowed to do as he pleased, and had acquired an 
indolent habit of straying aimlessly from one subject to 
another. "No subsequent circumstance,'' he says, ''could 
make up for that invaluable habit of vigorous and methodical 
industry which the indulgence and irregularity of my school 
life prevented me from acquiring, and of which I have pain- 
fully felt the want in every part of my life."' Sir James lived 
till near threescore and ten ; and yet, though a man of rare 
gifts, with a profound knowledge of art and literature, philos- 
ophy and politics, he left little more than a few " precious 
fragments," which simply prove what lie might have done, 
had he possessed that "invaluable habit," the want of which 
he so touchingly deplores. 

A dozen such examples might be given, but it is not nec- 
essary ; it has already been shown that the finest genius in 
the world has done what it has done mainly by industry and 
patient thought : and the fact now only remains to be 
emphasized that no habit is so valuable, no love of anything 
in the world so precious, as the love of labor, of constantly 
and regularly producing something useful. Not only does it 
conduce to success in life, but it is the purifier of character, 
the producer of sane thoughts and of a sweet, wholesome, 
contented life. For " success is no success at all if it makes 
not a happy mind."' A diligent workman, let him be ever so 
ignorant, is a far better man than the most cultivated idler. 
This is something that is never considered by those fathers 
and mothers who want their sons to be bank clerks and Wall 



HOW GREAT THINGS ARE DONE. 589 

street merchants. Such positions, with little to do and much 
to get, are the very express roads to perdition. The one great 
mistake that General Grant made was getting in among the 
Wall street sharks. 

No man who values his character, no man who values the 
true welfare of his children, should engage or cause his chil- 
dren to engage in a husiness whose main object is to make 
money, not to earn it ; to grow rich without labor ; to rise on 
the ruin of others, and to steep the senses in the enjoyment 
of material wealth. " Wealth," says somo one, "can never 
be conjured out of the crucible of political or commercial 
gambling. It must be hewed out of the forest, dug out of the 
earth, blasted out of the mine, pounded out on the anvil, 
wrought out of the machine shop, or worked out of the loom." 
That is why Austria is such a wretchedly poor, bankrupt 
country ; one of its chief sources of revenue (and chief cor- 
ruptions of the people) is its state lotteries, by which, though 
nothing is produced, everybody expects to get rich. 

"Of all the work that produces results," says the Bishop 
of Exeter, "nine tenths must be drudgery/' There is no work, 
from the highest to the lowest, that can be done by any man 
who is unwilling to make that sacrifice. Part of the very 
nobility of the devotion of the true workman to his work 
consists in the fact that he is not daunted by finding that 
drudgery must be done ; and no man can really succeed in 
any walk of life without a good deal of what in ordinary Eng- 
lish is called pluck. 

" Ah !" said a brave painter to Mr. Emerson, " if a man 
has failed, you will find he has dreamed instead of work- 
ing. There is no way to success in our art but to take off 
your coat, grind paint, and work like a digger on the railroad, 
all day and every day." 

This is the secret of the success of the Germans in this 
country ; they are never afraid of drudgery ; they will study 
and learn anything to succeed. While French merchants, for 
instance, never think of learning any language but their own, 
the Germans learn, when required, nearly every language of 
Europe. When the French do business with any foreign 
country, they write to that country in the language of France ; 
but the Germans write in the language of the country with 
which they trade. The young merchants of Germany learn 



590 LEADERS OF MEN. 

their business so thoroughly well that they get into superior 
positions wherever they go. After a four years' course in a 
commercial school, they serve three years longer in business 
houses without pay. The Germans strive, in fact, after thor- 
ough equipment in all the professions. There are no quacks 
or halflings in Germany. Such people are not tolerated. The 
leading merchants of France have found this out by experi- 
ence. When the writer was in Paris, in 1862, he found that 
most of the responsible positions in mercantile houses were 
filled by young Germans. For a young Frenchman has five 
hundred thoughts on amour for one on any other subject. 

When the Parisians, at the outbreak of the late Franco- 
Prussian war, lost their heads and banished the Germans from 
their city, they sent away their most skillful workmen in all 
those fine and fancy articles for which they had become fa- 
mous ; and, after the war, the Parisians found that most of 
their trade had gone with the workmen to Vienna. They had 
killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. 

The law of progress is by gradual steps. A great inven- 
tion is usually the result of the labors of three or four men 
living at different periods ; and had not the first done his 
part, the second would not have done his, nor the third com- 
pleted it. Galvani gave the first intimation of the science 
which bears his name, galvanism ; Volta showed that it was 
a source of power of incalculable importance ; and Humphry 
Davy, from the application of the galvanic energy to the 
composition and decomposition of various chemical sub- 
stances, showed that the power called chemical affinity is 
identical with that called electricity, thus creating a new 
science called electro-chemistry ; and thence he proceeded, in 
the same line of experiments, until he made his grand inven- 
tion, the Safety Lamp. Torricelli invented the barometer ; 
but he had no idea of the various uses to which it was to be 
applied. It was Pascal who showed that it might be used for 
measuring the height of any place to which it could be car- 
ried ; and it was, I think, Priestley, who showed its various 
uses in physical and mechanical researches. Napoleon sent 
Jacquard to study the models of machines in the Paris 
Museum of Inventions, and Jacquard found there the model 
of a machine which gave him the idea for constructing his 
wonderful carpet pattern-weaving loom. The Marquis of 



HOW GREAT THINGS ARE DONE. 591 

Worcester made, in 1G55, a machine which, hy the expansive 
power of steam, raised water to the height of forty feet ; then 
Thomas Newcomen, an ingenious mechanic, constructed, 
about half a century later, a kind of steam and atmospheric 
engine, which was used for working pumps ; and a half cen- 
tury after this, James Watt, while still working as a mathe- 
matical instrument maker, hit upon the ingenious expedient, 
the missing link, which practically made the steam engine 
what it is, the greatest invention ever made. Thus the great 
inventors and discoverers had predecessors who indicated or 
attempted something such as they achieved ; thus they were, 
as Dr. Hodge calls them, a succession of great bridge builders 
— men who spanned the chasm between the beginning and 
the ending of great inventions and discoveries. 

The same is doubtless true of the great creators in litera- 
ture and art. There were epic poets, no doubt, before Homer, 
just as there were dramatists before Shakespeare ; and cer- 
tainly neither Homer nor Shakespeare could have achieved 
anything such as they did achieve, had they had no prede- 
cessors. We know, in fact, that Shakespeare first essayed his 
marvelous power of dramatic composition by retouching and 
reviving old plays — literary corpses into which he breathed 
the breath of life — and I have no doubt that Homer did some 
inferior work before he rose to the Iliad. We do not know 
that the Iliad and the Odyssey are the greatest epics of antiq- 
uity ; we know only that they are the greatest that have come 
down to us. 

Thus it is that the studies and labors of one man help on 
the studies and labors of another ; thus it is that thoughts 
produce thoughts ; inventions produce inventions ; poems 
produce poems ; pictures produce pictures ; laws produce 
laws ; and thus the arts and the sciences are carried forward, 
link after link, by one mind after another, till the chain be 
complete. ""No man," says Garfield, "can make a speech 
alone. It is the great human power that strikes from a thou- 
sand minds ; this acts upon him and makes the speech." 
Think of that, young man, when you are reading Burke's 
or Webster's masterpieces of oratory ; think of that, young 
woman, when you are reading Walter Scott's or George 
Eliot's masterpieces of fiction. You may not make such 
speeches or write such stories ■ but they have their influence 



592 LEADERS OF MEN. 

upon you ; you carry away something' from them ; and they 
will help you to make good speeches or to write good stories 
of your own. Any other kind you should never attempt to 
make or to write. "A man who writes well," says Montes- 
cpuieu, ''writes not as others write, but as he himself writes ; 
it is often in speaking badly that he speaks well.'* Chatham's 
speeches, for instance, consisted of a series of rugged, broken 
sentences ; but they were his own, full of significance, charac- 
teristic, and true, and they carried ten times as much weight 
as the smooth, fluent, and well-worded speeches of his oppo- 
nents. 

A brawny-armed quarryman strikes forty blows with a big 
hammer on a huge block of granite, all apparently in vain. 
" If y r ou can't break that block in ten blows," remarked a by- 
stander, " you can't do it in a hundred.'" " Oh, yes," said he, 
" every blow tells." This is a good illustration of all successful 
work. It may- not be apparent, but every conversation, every 
speech, every sermon, every story, every experience in life, 
tells in making up the man. And when a man, in some 
supreme moment, produces, without any apparent effort, and 
without any" previous preparation, a masterpiece of oratory, a 
grand blaze of eloquence like Chatham's answer to Lord 
Suffolk, or Webster's reply to Hayne, it is simply the outcome 
of years of study and reflection, the product of a mind stored 
with the wit and wisdom of past ages, and trained to success- 
ful effort in the moment of necessity. " What though the 
fire bursts forth at length," says Dr. Dewey, "' like volcanic 
fires, with spontaneous, original, native force ? It only 
shows the intenser action of the elements beneath. What 
though it breaks like lightning from the cloud ? The electric 
fire had been collecting in the firmament through many a 
silent, calm, and clear day." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

JOHN WANAMAKER. 



ON HOW TO SUCCEED DATE AND PLACE OF HIS BIRTH PARENT- 
AGE A COUNTRY BOY AT SCHOOL EARLY INDUSTRY " EVERYBODY'S 

JOURNAL" SECRETARY OF Y. M. C. A. BEGINS HIS MERCANTILE CAREER 

STEADY EXPANSION OF HIS BUSINESS NEW YORK STORE IN POLITICS 

POSTMASTER GENERAL UNDER HARRISON AS A CITIZEN HIS RELI- 
GIOUS WORK OTHER ENTERPRISES KEYNOTE OF HIS SUCCESS AS AN 

EXEMPLAR. HOW TO FAIL. 




It is an undeniable fact that the boy in the country pos- 
sesses advantages not open to the youth growing up in our 
great cities. The lad whose introduction to 
the busy world about him occurs amid rural 
surroundings, finds his horizon not limited 
by the countless structures of God's goodness 
to man as exemplified in his works through 
bounteous nature. The country boy has 
abundant evidence that, among the honored 
men of the nation, many have had the ad- 
vantages of a youth spent amid the green 
fields and pleasant surroundings of a country 
life. 

The many benefits of a health-giving atmosphere and 
wholesome food are advantages the country boy possesses in 
excess of the boy in the city. Combined with these, regular 
hours of sleep and rest serve to perpetuate the " sound mind 
in a sound body," so necessary for those who would attain the 
highest measure of usefulness in this busy world. 

Free from the temptations which beset the city youth on 
every side, luring him on to dissipation and ruin, the country 
boy finds his joy and recreation in rational amusements, 
which leave no aftermath of regret. Thus he prepares the 
foundation of a vigorous constitution and good health on 
which to build his life. 

I would say to the young fellows who have succeeded in 
opening the window that looks out into the world, that in 



594 LEADERS OF 31 EN. 

order to keep the shutters open and fastened back to the wall, 
the chief danger in almost every case, whether a professional 
or business life is chosen, — is debt. 




OHN WANAMAKER was born July 11, 1838, in a rural 
district in the southwestern section of the county (now 
city) of Philadelphia. 

His grandfather was John Wanamaker of Hunterdon 
county, New Jersey, who, in 1815, removed to Dayton, Ohio, 
and shortly afterward to Kosciusko county, Indiana, where 
he died. He left three sons, one of whom, John Nelson Wana- 
maker, married Elizabeth D. Kochersperger, who was of 
Huguenot lineage. 

John, the oldest of their seven children, was a country boy. 
The first money he ever earned was given him for turning 
bricks in his father's brickyard. His opportunities for educa- 
tion were exceedingly limited, as the public school system of 
instruction of those days was very defective. The boys were 
often detained after school hours to perform some unfinished 
task. It is said of John that when all the rest of the class had 
been dismissed, " he would keep the master in, being unwill- 
ing to leave until the knotty problem had been solved." He 
published a little paper entitled Everybody's Journal, in 
which he was greatly interested. In 1852 he obtained employ- 
ment in a publishing house on Market street near Fifth at 
$1.25 per week. He soon found a better situation in the cloth- 
ing store of Barclay Lippincott, where he received $1.50 per 
week. From there he went to Bennett's Tower Hall. Men 
who worked with him say he was bright, willing, accommo- 
dating, and very seldom out of temper. The people liked 
him. Mr. Bennett liked him, and when he began to sell cloth- 
ing the customers liked him. He was considerate of their 
interests ; he treated them in such a manner that when they 
came again, they would ask : " Where is John ? " 



JOHN WANAMAKER. 505 

An ambitious young man like John Wanamaker was not 
content to sell goods all his days for other people. He became 
the first paid Secretary of the Philadelphia Young Men's 
Christian Association at a salary of $1,000 a year. He was 
very saving even while a boy, denying himself many a 
comfort, that he might take as much as possible of his pay to 
his mother at the end of the week. Colonel Bennett said of him ■ 
•'John was certainly the most ambitious boy I ever saw. I 
used to take him to lunch with me and he would tell me how 
he was going to be a great merchant. He was greatly inter- 
ested in the temperance cause and had not been with me long- 
before he had persuaded most of the employees to join a 
temperance society. He was always organizing something ; | 
he seemed to be a natural born organizer." Up to the year 
1861 he had laid by $1,900, when he began business with his 
friend Nathan Brown under the firm name of Wanamaker & 
Brown in a small store on the southeast corner of Sixth and 
Market streets. The partners had a capital of only $3,500. The 
total amount of the sales of the first day (April 15, 1801) was 
$24.67 ; the business for the first year amounting to $24,367. 

In November, 1868, Mr. Brown died, and in December a 
special sale was inaugurated, which was unprecedentedly suc- 
cessful, enabling Mr. Wanamaker to purchase his partner's 
interest, continuing the use of the firm name. In 1869 a store 
was added on Chestnut street, and soon afterwards a store on 
Market street above Sixth was purchased. Mr. Wanamaker 
prosecuted his business with energy and close application, not 
taking a single day's recreation until the summer of 1869. 
In 1870 he purchased the adjoining buildings at Sixth and 
Market streets ; and, in June, 1871, altered into one large 
establishment what had until then given room for no less than 
forty-five tenants. 

In 1875 Mr. Wanamaker purchased the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road freight depot at Market and Thirteenth streets, which 
was used for several months during the fall and winter by the 
great evangelist, D. L. Moody. During the early days of the 
Centennial year the old depot was remodeled into a men's 
and boys' clothing store, and again enlarged in 1877, when, 
on the 12th of March of that year, dry goods, notions, and 
ladies' and misses' wear departments were added to the lines 
already established. Additions from time to time have been 



596 LEADERS OF MEN. 

made, until a floor space of fifteen acres is utilized under the 
one immense roof, exclusive of warerooms. stables, etc., cov- 
ering equally as great an area. 

Mr. A. T. Stewart once remarked to Mr. George W. Childs : 
'• You have a great business man in your city. I refer to 
Mr. Wanamaker. He will be a greater merchant than I ever 
have been or ever will be." 

September 26, 1896, New York read a new sign in front of 
the beautiful palace, Broadway and Ninth to Tenth streets 
— ''John Wanamaker, successor to A. T. Stewart." 

And now at the beginning of the new century this great 
business, managed and operated as one establishment, with 
one store in Philadelphia and the other in New York, gives 
employment to more than 10,000 persons, the sales of a single 
month occasionally reaching over a million dollars. 

Mr. Wanamaker was for several years the President of the 
Philadelphia Young Men's Christian Association, and it was 
during his presidency that the beautiful building at loth and 
Chestnut streets was erected at a cost of nearly $500,000, one 
hundred thousand dollars of which was contributed by himself. 

In i860 he took an active part in the great Sanitary Fair 
held in Logan square for the benefit of the sick and wounded 
soldiers of the Civil War. He was a member of the Christian 
Commission, which did such splendid service during the war. 
He was a member of the Citizens' Relief Committee and 
assisted in raising funds for the yellow fever sufferers in the 
South. He rendered efficient service at the time of the Irish 
famine, also later on assisting in securing help for the Ohio 
and Mississippi flood sufferers and acting as chairman of 
committee for the relief of several towns that had been visited 
by fire. Mr. Wanamaker held a responsible position on the 
Finance Committee of the great Centennial Exposition in 1876, 
and gave considerable attention to the celebration of the 200th 
anniversary of the landing of William Penn. 

In 1882 he was offered the Republican nomination for con- 
gressman at large, but declined it. and in 1886 he declined to 
be an independent candidate for mayor. He was very active 
in the Presidential campaign of 1888, and served as an elector, 
devoting much time and energy to the Republican National 
Executive Committee, of which he was a member. 

Mr. Wanamaker's interest in politics was always keen, but 



JOHN WANAMAKER. 597 

his view was from the standpoint of the citizen whose duty it 
was to work for the good of the government. He is an " anti- 
machinist " in politics, and does not train well under the 
direction of bosses. And yet he has done an enormous 
amount of strenuous political duty in accord and co-operation 
with the regular Republican organization. If all citizens of 
our large cities would give the same personal attention to city 
affairs that Mr. Wanamaker has given to the affairs of Phila- 
delphia, our towns would be better governed and our city 
scandals fewer. He gave a great amount of personal atten- 
tion to the problem of a satisfactory water supply in Phila- 
delphia. On one occasion he offered to purchase the gas plant 
of the city at a higher price than the city was. about to accept 
for it, and not long ago he offered a large amount in excess of 
the price paid for the city's street railway franchise. 

Mr. Harrison, on his election, recognized Mr. Wanamaker's 
ability and worth, and appointed him Postmaster General, 
which office he filled so effectively during all of Mr. Harrison's 
administration. He carried with him into his new sphere the 
business methods which brought him success in mercantile 
life and the nation reaped the benefit of his magnificent 
experience. 

As Postmaster General he provided quicker transmission 
of the mails by pushing the railway companies to new 
achievements in rapid transportation. He established Sea 
Post Offices, whereby foreign mail is made up aboard ship and 
is ready for immediate transmission to inland cities on arrival 

at port. 

Mr. Wanamaker has been no less active in his religious 
than in his secular work. During the great revival times of 
1857 he labored diligently among the volunteer firemen, hold- 
ing meetings in the engine and hose houses, which resulted 
in many hopeful conversions. He was an earnest worker in 
the long-to-be-remembered noon-day meeting held in Jayne's 
Hall in 1857 and 1858. 

On the 14th of February, 1858. Mr. Wanamaker began the 
famous Bethany Mission Sabbath School in the rooms of a 
cobbler at 2135 South street, the attendance on that Sunday 
being two teachers and twenty-seven scholars. The increase 
in members soon demanded more room and a tent was set up 
on a vacant lot in the same block, which was replaced by a 



598 LEADERS OF MEN. 

substantial chapel in the fall of that year. In 1864 these 
quarters having become entirely too small for the growing- 
school a fine stone structure was erected on the corner of 
Twenty-second and Bainbridge streets, which has been remod- 
eled and enlarged from time to time until it now has a seat- 
ing capacity of something over 3,000, and a roll of about 2,700 
in the main and junior departments, with a Bible Union com- 
prising a membership of 2,300 adults which assembles at the 
same hour, 2.30 o'clock, in the church auditorium. 

During Mr. Wanamakers administration of the Post 
Office Department he attended -this Sabbath School punctually 
every Sunday (with very few exceptions) during his four 
years' incumbency, traveling over 60,000 miles for this 
purpose. 

Mr. Wanamaker is president of the first penny savings 
bank, an institution incorporated under special laws of the 
state of Pennsylvania and organized July, 1888, in one of the 
rooms of the Bethany Sabbath School Hall by members of 
the Bible Union for the purpose of assisting the poor of the 
community to save something for a "rainy day," three and a 
half per cent, being allowed on deposits ; the depositors num- 
bering January 1, 1901, over 10,000 and the amount deposited 
being $328,000. 

A flourishing night school (or " college "), for young people 
engaged in various occupations during the day, who have not 
had the opportunity of securing an education or have neg- 
lected the advantages of earlier youth, is now in course of 
successful progress. 

Almost every good enterprise of a Christian character in 
Philadelphia in the past forty years has had Mr. Wana- 
makers assistance. He has also been connected with a very 
large proportion of the worthy business enterprises. These 
relations have caused him to be better known to the people of 
the country generally than any other citizen of the Quaker 
City. His theory of life and business is well described in 
Peter Cooper's statement about himself made at the compli- 
mentary banquet given to him once in New York. Mr. 
Cooper said: "While 1 have always recognized that the 
object of business is to make money in an honorable manner. 
I have endeavored to remember that the object of life is to do 
good. Hence I have been ready to engage in all new enter- 




JOHN WANAMAKER. 



HOW TO FAIL. 601 

prises and, without incurring debt, to risk the means which 1 
have acquired in their promotion, provided they seemed to 
me calculated to advance the general good." 

Mr. Wanamaker's terse telegram to the Bridgeton, N. J., 
Young Men's Christian Association Anniversary in response to 
its secretary's request for a brief sketch of his life, "Think- 
ing* trying, toiling, and trusting in God is all of my biog- 
raphy,'' gives the keynote of all his wonderful success. As a 
merchant he has brought the people of all the world in closer 
touch with each other. As a philanthropist he has been a 
blessing, especially to the young men of many lands ; as a 
Christian worker he has inspired thousands to lead consistent 
and beautiful lives. Mr. Wanamaker is not only a true citi- 
zen of a great nation, but he is a statesman and a patriot. 

Then : — 

Closer bind the sympathetic cord 

'Twixt man and man ! The blessing of the Lord 

P^ver rests on such as willing share 

With those who through affliction sadly fare. 

Wait then not the coffin lid to close 

O'er those we love when in their last repose ; 

Garlands bring of flowers while life is warm, 

'T will help our brother brave the fiercest storm. 



HOW TO FAIL. 

HERE is inborn in every man an earnest wish to sue 
__ ceed ; to reach the goal at which he will find power 
IT and influence ; to be honored by the world and looked 
up to by men. There are people in the world who fear 
assignment, business failure, more than they fear eternal 
perdition ; who guard their dollars with infinitely more pains 
than they care for their souls. 

Not long since, a well-known minister prepared a lecture 
on this subject, derived from the testimony of forty men of 
large successes. The evidence deduced is exceedingly valua- 
ble, and is herewith produced in connection with the com- 
mentaries made upon it for the benefit of every young man 
who is interested in the general subject of success. It will be 
evident that in a general line of argument the obverse of the 
general causes of success will prove to be the general causes 



602 LEADERS OF MEN. 

of failure. Every mainspring of success is a mainspring of 
failure when wound around the other way, but, in addition to 
that general line of argument, a large number of definite, 
clear-cut, undeniable reasons are set forth by these corre- 
spondents, telling with cogency and power just how a young 
man can start out in the world and make the least of himself. 
These correspondents are not old ladies ; they are not 
superannuated ministers ; they are not dealing with social 
goody-goodies ; they are not theoretical college professors 
more familiar with the silver question at Washington than 
with the silver dollars in their own pockets, but they are men 
who stand in the front rank of the men of action in the 
United States to-day ; most of them are quoted with large fig- 
ures in Bradstreet. It is not assumed that they may never 
make an assignment, for the Lord only knows what a day 
may bring forth ; but they are not making assignments now, 
and even if some of them ever should it would in no wise 
vitiate the strength of their words, for they all have made at 
least one assured success in their lives — a success which the 
future can never gainsay. 

The question propounded was : "What in your observa- 
tion are the chief causes of the failure in the life of the busi- 
ness or professional men, barring, of course, periods of 
national and financial depression ? " In the first place it may 
be well to give the collection of reasons that are assigned in 
brief. Many of the correspondents give reasons that are 
expressed in very few words. These have all been gathered 
together in one long list ; some of them may be and doubtless 
are repetitions, in other words, of other statements, but they 
are put down just as they appeared in the replies of the 
men. As they are canvassed, look at them, as simply a list of 
symptoms of a socially sick man. So here are the causes 
of failure expressed briefly : — 

Bad habits; bad judgment; bad luck; bad associates; 
carelessness of details ; constant assuming of unjustifiable 
risks — desire to become rich too fast ; drinking ; dishonest 
dealings ; dislike of retrenchment ; dislike to say " No " at 
the proper time ; disregard of the Golden Rule ; drifting with 
the tide ; expensive habits of life ; extravagance ; envy ; fail- 
ure to appreciate one's surroundings ; failure to grasp one's 
opportunities ; frequent changes from one business to another ; 



HOW TO FAIL. 603 

fooling away time in pursuit of the so-called good time ; 
gambling: inattention; incompetent assistants; incompe- 
tency ; indulgence ; jealousy. 

Then comes a long list of " lacks " ; study them carefully. 

Lack of attention to business ; of application ; of adapta- 
tion ; of ambition ; of business methods ; of capital ; of con- 
servatism ; of close attention to business ; of confidence in 
self ; of careful accounting ; of careful observation ; of defi- 
nite purpose ; of discipline in early life ; of discernment of 
character ; of enterprise ; of energy ; of economy ; of faith- 
fulness ; of faith in one's calling ; of industry ; of integrity ; 
of judgment ; of knowledge of business requirements ; of 
manly character ; of natural ability ; of perseverance ; of 
pure principles ; of proper courtesy toward people ; of pur- 
pose ; of promptness in meeting business engagements ; of 
system. 

Then, too, other reasons besides lack of things were men- 
tioned ; such as : — 

Late hours ; living beyond one's income ; leaving too 
much to one's employees ; neglect of details ; no inborn love 
for one's calling ; over-confidence in the stability of existing 
conditions ; procrastination ; speculative mania ; selfishness ; 
self-indulgence in small vices ; studying ease rather than 
vigilance ; social demoralization ; thoughtless marriages ; 
trusting your own work to others ; undesirable location ; 
unwillingness to pay the price of success ; unwillingness to 
bear early privations ; waste ; yielding too easily to dis- 
couragement. 

Young men, this is a highly significant list of reasons for 
failure ; who is there among us who can look into this list 
and say, "I answer up to none of these things?" If there 
is such a one he is too perfect for earth ; he " is not of the 
earth earthy." When we take up the great mass of testi- 
mony furnished by these forty correspondents in respect to 
reasons for failure, we not only find in this foregoing long list 
the specific reasons, but when we sit down to analyze and 
dissect this testimony we find that there are certain things 
which seem to weigh with special burden upon the hearts and 
minds of a great many of these correspondents. 

A statesman, whose name is known from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific, says, "Young men fail by reason of associations 



604 LEADERS OF MEN. 

which distract men's thoughts from what should be the main 
purpose of each particular life." The president of a prominent 
bank puts the same thing in different words when he says : 
" Too many irons in the fire,— the one-thing-I-do sort of a man 
is the one that surely gets there." A leading merchant puts 
the matter in this wise : " Taking up the business of which one 
knows nothing and changing from one business to another 
because of slight reverses." In almost identical words a 
man of great social prominence and wealth says : "In many 
cases I think failure comes from not sticking to one thing ; 
too many changes are made." 

It it easily observed from what these men tell us that con- 
centration means collection into a central point ; compression 
into a narrow space ; it means a state of being brought to a 
point ; when the divine Man tells us that we cannot serve 
God and mammon, he means concentration. 

These are days of keen competition ; days when "forty 
winks " may mean failure. Too many arrows in the quiver 
may mean the blunting of the edges of them all ; too many 
irons in the fire may mean a cold side to every one of them. 
During business hours where are all your thoughts? There is 
only one business wherein they can afford to go wool-gather- 
ing and that is the wool business. 

The best endeavors are killed by too much diversion of 
thought, trying to do one thing faithfully and yet thinking of 
another thing. It has been written that " a young man's per- 
sonal letters have no right to come to his office address," and 
it may be added that a young man is treading dangerous ter- 
ritory who is afraid to have his mail delivered at any other 
place ; but apart from this a man's business office is no proper 
place for social visiting. By it there will come weakness to 
the integrity of calm business thought. This is common sense ; 
and a senator of the United States writes that "lack of com- 
mon sense is far more disastrous than lack of book learning." 
The treasurer of one of the largest corporations in the country 
strikes a magnificent note when he says, "Failure often 
comes from the desire to become rich too fast," and a leading 
Eastern capitalist gives a significant commentary on this 
thought when he says, "Also the very ambitious man who 
risks too much, extends his time of credit too far, neglects to 
pay cash or at any rate to pay as first agreed." There are 



HOW TO FAIL. 005 

some things that this will lead to as surely as day will lead to 
night ; and one of them is speculation. Speculation is, simply, 
who is going to get the wool, you or the other fellow ; it often 
happens that it is the other fellow. 

It is not only a moral and spiritual virtue not to gamble ; 
not to speculate : but it is a safe thing. Everybody knows 
this, but the trouble is that so many think that they will be the 
hundredth lucky fellow. The Athenians had their altar to 
the " Unknown God " and so has America. He is a treacher- 
ous deity to worship. Keep at it long enough and you will 
fail. You may be fond of indulging in "flyers,*' but many 
a man's " flyer " has had waxen wings that melt too soon and 
the thing becomes a " tumbler " instead. 

Our country is flooded with schemes for quickly getting 
rich. How many things there are that promise to give a man 
riches for a few dollars ! And the thing held out as a bait is a 
dividend at a large rate per cent. But they all like to be hum- 
bugged, especially if the bug is a gold one. A writer puts it 
very tersely when he says : " Note this ; that no man will give 
you a dollar for fifty cents unless it is counterfeit. Gold 
mines never go begging for stockholders ; nor anything else 
that is gold. A fine spring chicken on your plate is worth a 
whole flock of geese on the wing. Leave speculation to the 
man who can afford to lose money." But there are hundreds 
of young men who for years to come will have no temptation to 
speculate in railroad securities. Western mortgages, grain, 
cotton futures, or silver holes in the earth, for the simple 
reason that they will not have money enough for the manipu- 
lators to "let them in.'' 

Many a young man tries to add to his income by the 
pool room, and there is no better way of coaxing failure to 
come and sit on your rooftree than to frequent the pool rooms 
of our great cities. Many young men and not a few pro- 
fessional men have lived blighted lives by frequenting the 
pool room. It is true, not much money is required ; you are 
not obliged to be a millionaire to speculate in the pool room. 
Off somewhere a few fast horses will be trotting a race and 
the fast horses there mean fast men in the pool room ; for fast 
horses make fast men, though it is a shame that they should. 
Nearly every prison cell has had an occupant who was 
brought there by trying to get rich too fast in the pool room. 



606 LEADERS OF MEN. 

If you want to surely fail, just stick to that sort of thing, just 
forget that little poem of James Whitcomb Riley, which runs 
like this : — 

<< WHO BIDES HIS TIME. 

" Who bides his time, and day by day 

Faces defeat full patiently, 
And lifts a mirthful roundelay, 

However poor his fortunes be, — 
He will not fail in any qualm 

Of poverty — the paltry dime 
It, will grow golden in his palm, 

Who bides his time. 

" Who bides his time - - he tastes the sweet 

Of honey in the saltest tear ; 
And though he fares with slowest feet, 

Joy runs to meet him drawing near ; 
The birds are heralds of his cause, 

And, like a never-ending rhyme, 
The roadsides' bloom in his applause, 

Who bides his time. 

" Who bides his time, and fevers not 

In the hot race that none achieves, 
Shall wear cool wreathen laurel, wrought 

With crimson berries in the leaves ; 
And he shall reign a goodly king, 

And sway his hand o'er every clime, 
With peace writ on his signet ring, 

Who bides his time." 

We see a man who is in too much of a hurry to get rich, 
things come too slow for him ; as some correspondent says, 
" They are unwilling to pay the price of success, which price 
is to bear early privation.'* So what next ? The next natural 
step is failure ; as one of our most prominent and upright 
judges says, " Ambition to show for greater force, moneyed 
or mental, whatever they actually have." In other words it is 
a case of the peacock's feathers in the jackdaw's tail. Many 
other correspondents speak of the same thing, living beyond 
one's means, or, as a prominent merchant puts it, " spreading 
out too much and spending more than one's income." Noth- 
ing under Heaven save a miracle can prevent this sort of 



HOW TO FAIL. 607 

tiling from ending in a total smash-up ; to spend $2.00 when 
you only have $1.00 legitimately, means either a business 
credit that will some day be lost, or gambling to make up for 
things, or else downright theft and embezzlement. 

Over-display is not only risky, but it is in bad taste. There 
are too many plush curtains downstairs, and corn husk mat- 
tresses upstairs, in this world of ours ; too many dollars 
spent for club fees, and shillings for the laundry ; too many 
men trying to pass for wise, who in reality are only half wise : 
over-display means under-concealment some day. It is far 
better to sail with ballast and center board than to leave them 
behind and crowd on too much sail ; you may not go so fast, 
or cut so much of a dash, but 3 r ou are more likely to get there 
dry. 

A good many correspondents speak of drink as a prolific 
cause of failure. Some call it alcohol, some call it whisky, 
some rum, — but they all mean the same thing ; they mean the 
occasional or the frequent befuddling of the brain with liquor. 

We speak of this now, not as a moral issue, nor as a reli- 
gious issue, but simply as a common sense issue, since success- 
ful men say that it leads to failure. One would be a fool to 
spend his time at any certain place if he knew that by remain- 
ing there long enough he would contract smallpox ; he would 
be a fool to indulge in any sport that would in due time tend 
to make him blind or deaf. Why do young men who want to 
get on in the world fool with whisky? Why do they think 
they can dissipate one night and not fall under the average 
the next day? It is a rough but true saying that "a man can- 
not drink whisky and be in business." 

Then, too, another great enemy of business success is so- 
called "society" ; the society that thinks with its heels, and 
takes its nourishment out of a bottle. One hour of that 
thing at night breathes mildew over every three hours of 
work the next day ; and those three hours are either squinting 
toward success or failure. Sleep is one of the most important 
ingredients in the prescription ^for success; "Sleep is only 
nature's banking system of principal and interest." Squander 
it unworthily, and every time you do, you lessen your bank 
deposit, and have less to draw on for success. Do you 
want a great lever in your hand for success ? Then find it in 
a fresh and clear brain. Do you want to spike down a tie 



008 LEA DEBS OF MEN. 

across the rails for a smash-up ? Then come to your daily 
work with an aching brain, a muddled judgment, and trem- 
bling nerves. It will only be a question of time. 

Now let us turn again to our great budget of correspond- 
ence, to see what else our forty men had to say concerning 
the matter of failure. 

A man who sat for a generation in the House of Represen- 
tatives wrote that it often came " from an unwise or unfor- 
tunate confidence in others." A man is to be despised who 
goes through the world holding every man in suspicion ; who 
thinks with the old cynic that "every man has his price." 
To trust nobody is to prove yourself eminently unworthy of 
trust ; but a man does not need to be a simpleton in order to 
be trustful ; we simply have to use our judgment. And a lead- 
ing dry goods man remarks that failure often comes from 
poor judgment ; from an inability to discern the character of 
others. 

Some have spoken upon the matter of thrift ; as a certain 
millionaire puts it : " Unwillingness to economize on the start, 
hoping that some fortunate turn in affairs will bring fortune 
and fame." 

Others, realizing that this lesson may be over-learned, see 
a peculiar but a true reason for failure, as a certain prominent 
man puts it, " in a lack of ability to steer between the Scylla 
of spendthriftness and the Charybdis of miserliness." In 
other words, not to be too stingy or too generous. 

This is a hard path to steer ; no man is so despicable as the 
man who sponges ; who gets all he can and yields up nothing ; 
who saves and hoards, and says with the leech, " Give, give," 
but gives nothing himself. That man may not financially 
fail, but he will fail in every other way. And, after all, it is 
not all of life to " have." 

But, on the other hand, there is the over-generous man ; 
the kind man that will take the shirt off his back to give to 
the poor ; but what is the use of it, after all, if he catches 
pneumonia by it and dies ? There is the safe middle course, 
into which we all ought to try to steer. 

Yet one correspondent seems to think that city boys are in 
no danger of steering upon the rock of miserliness. This 
gentleman, the proprietor of a large iron industry, says : 
" Much failure comes from non-attention to habits of saving, 



HOW TO FAIL. 609 

habits that are usually of necessity instilled into the minds of 
boys brought up in the country ; and from my experience," 
he says, " such habits are almost impossible to teach the city- 
bred boys." 

Possibly that is put too strongly ; there is a great deal of 
heroism in a fellow's being thrifty when he has to be, but there 
is more virtue in a fellow's being thrifty when he thinks it is 
best to be. Rusticity almost invariably enforces thrift , but 
jn a city, a fellow can more often choose for himself whether 
he will be prodigal or miserly. 

Don't let us think, however, that it is impossible to teach 
thrift to a city boy. Hundreds of young men are learning 
and practicing this lesson. 

But there is one thing sure, and a leading capitalist hits the 
nail on the head when he says : " Men fail when they are not 
adapted to the work in which they are occupied. The truth 
is, every man should be called to his work, as was Paul ; 
though comparatively few are called to the same work as was 
Paul." True enough ; and yet there is a certain luxurious 
sound to that, is there not ? As if all young men could wait 
around until just the thing for which they think themselves 
adapted turns up. Yet there is nothing more important to 
you than to try to find out the thing for which you are the 
best adapted. Find out the thing you can best do, and make 
that thing the order of your life. 

But this may take some time ; it may perhaps take you 
clean up to your majority ; what then ? Shall you be in the 
meantime idle, earning nothing, just hanging round living 
on your father, waiting for 'the revelation of an adaptation ? 
By no means ; work at something, study at something, 
redeem the time ; be constantly reading along some given 
and instructive line, and in due time you will see a vision 
and hear a voice ; and that vision and voice will guide you 
on, and there will be success rather than failure for you. 

But the above presupposes some mental ability and 
shrewdness on the part of the young man ; and we are 
reminded that a correspondent gives as one reason for failure, 
the fact of one's being "born without ability, or brain to 
acquire it." 

It looks as though that were rather a polite definition of a 
fool ; one born without ability, or brain to acquire it. But 



610 LEADERS OF MEN. 

there are very few young men these days who cannot do a 
great deal toward making up for early deficiencies if they 
want to do so. 

But you may put the conundrum : " Can a natural born 
fool ever become anything else ?" And to give an honest 
and candid answer, we are compelled to say, no ; but you 
may press further than that : you may ask how a natural 
born fool would act ; what he would do in order to insure 
failure to himself and his business career. 

If he will persist in being foolish, if he will insist on invit- 
ing failure, then here is the way for him to go about it : Form 
bad habits, and keep bad associates ; let him drink and be 
dishonest, and forget the Golden Rule ; let him fear to say 
"No," and drift with the tide; let him gamble and indulge 
himself in laziness ; let him have a lordly disdain for applica- 
tion and correct business methods ; let him think himself to 
be feeble, incompetent, worthless ; if he does, everybody else 
will, — the world largely takes a man at his own valuation ; 
let him sneer at early discipline, laugh at holding a definite 
purpose, and think that economy is good for only poor people ; 
let him think that there is no especial value in possessing a 
manly character, and in having everybody think well of him ; 
let him go through the world careless of people's feelings, — a 
boor in society, — atrial to his own best friends ; let him think 
that it makes no difference if he keeps his engagements ten 
minutes late; let him procrastinate, — never doing to-day 
what he can put off until to-morrow, and never doing to-mor- 
row what he can get some one else to do ; let him drink and 
swear and break the Sabbath ; let him forget or trample on 
the laws of virtue and purity ; let him become a prodigal son. 
and live in open sin, trusting that somewhere and sometime 
there is a stable with a fattening calf in it waiting for him. 
Let him lead that kind of a life, and follow that kind of a 
program! What are these things ? The brand of Cain ? No ; 
they are the marks of a fool ; yes, of a fool, because not a 
single one of them is necessary. All can choose just the 
opposite things if they want to do so. It is merely a question 
of choice ; merely a question of " looking diligently lest any 
man fail."' 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THOMAS ALVA EDISON. 

WHAT BRINGS SUCCESS BOYHOOD OF A GENIUS NEWSBOY, EDITOR, 

AND CHEMIST AT FIFTEEN HEROIC TUITION FEE NOT A PRIG AMONG 

TRAMP TELEGRAPHERS IN LOUISVILLE ASTONISHES EASTERN OPER- 
ATORS' FIRST PATENT IN NEW YORK CAPACITY FOR WORK PER- 
SONAL APPEARANCE HIS ESTIMATE OF THE PATENT PIRATE A CLOSER 

VIEW OF EDISON INDIFFERENCE TO PLAUDITS AS A BUSINESS MAN 

A SENSITIVE NATURE PLACE AMONG SCIENTISTS AT WORK THE 

PHONOGRAPH ECONOMIC FEATURES OF HIS INVENTIONS NON-ELEC- 
TRICAL EXPERIMENTS HIS PRINCIPAL INVENTIONS ACHIEVEMENTS OF 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY EDISON THE MAN. THE VALUE OF AN IDEA. 



I never did anything worth doing, by accident, nor did any 
of ray inventions come indirectly through accident, except 
the phonograph. When I have fully decided 
that a result is worth getting, I go ahead on 
it and make trial after trial until it comes. 
Well directed ambition and perseverance will 
accomplish almost everything. 

I like work. Some people like to collect 
postage stamps. Anything I have begun is 
always on my mind, and I am not easy 
while away from it until it is finished. 

I have always kept strictly within the 
lines of commercially useful inventions. I 
have never had any time to put on electrical wonders, valu- 
able simply as novelties to catch the popular fancy. 



LAcrvs 





612 LEADERS OF MEN. 

F one were to ask what person best symbolized the indus- 
trial regeneration for which we, as a nation, will stand, it 
would be marvelously easy to answer, Thomas Alva 
Edison. The precocious self-reliance and the restless en- 
ergy of the New World ; its brilliant defiance of traditions ; 
the immediate adaptation of means to ends ; and, above all, 
the distinctive inventive faculty have reached in him their 
apogee. 

The mere mass of this extraordinary man's work gives in 
itself a striking idea of the force which he exerts in our 
material progress. Up to a few days ago the government had 
granted Edison no less than seven hundred and sixty-five 
patents, while he had in addition one hundred and fifty appli- 
cations on file. And this during a working period that has 
not yet brought him within many years of the grand climac- 
teric, and much of it accomplished in the face of discouraging 
financial obstacles. 

Mr. Edison is fifty-five years of age and was born in Milan, 
Erie county, Ohio. He comes of Dutch parentage, the fam- 
ily having emigrated to America in 1730. His great grand- 
father was a banker of high standing in New York. When 
Mr. Edison was but a child of seven the family fortunes 
suffered reverses so serious as to make it necessary that 
he should become a wage-earner at an unusually early age, 
and that the family should move from his birthplace to Mich- 
igan. 

Only four years later the boy was reading Newton's 
" Principia " with the entirely logical result of becoming 
deeply and permanently disgusted with pure mathematics. 
Indeed, he seems to have displayed all the due precocity of 
genius, one of his notable feats about this time being an 
attempt to read through the entire free library of Detroit ! 

Nor was he by any means a youthful bookworm and 
dreamer. The distinctly practical bent of his character was 
shown in his operations as newsboy on the Grand Trunk Rail- 
way — especially in the brilliant coup by which in 1869 he 
bought up on "futures" a thousand copies of the Detroit Free 
Press containing important war news, and, gaining a little 
time on his rivals, sold the entire batch like hot cakes, so that 
the price reached twenty-five cents a paper before the end of 
his route. It was at this period, too, that he was posing as 



THOMAS ALVA EDISON. 613 

editor of the Grand Trunk Herald, a weekly periodical of 
very modest proportions issued from the train on which he 
traveled. 

He had also begun to dabble in chemistry and fitted up to 
that end a small itinerant laboratory. During the progress of 
some occult experiments in this workshop certain, complica- 
tions ensued in which a jolted and broken bottle of sulphuric 
acid attracted the attention of the conductor. He, who had 
been long suffering in the matter of unearthly odors, promptly 
ejected the young devotee and all his works. His incident 
would have been only amusing had it not been rendered 
deplorable from the lasting deafness which resulted from a 
box on the ear, administered by the irate conductor in the 
course of the young scientist's hegira. 

Edison transferred the laboratory to his father's cellar, and 
diligently studied telegraphy, establishing a line between his 
home and a boy partner's with the help of an old river cable, 
sundry lengths of stovepipe, and glass bottle insulators. 

Dramatic situations appear at every turn of this man's 
life, though temperamentally he would be the last to seek 
them. He seems to be continually arriving on the scene at 
critical moments to take the conduct of affairs into his own 
hands. It was on one of these occasions, when he snatched a 
station-master's child from before an approaching train, that 
he earned his first lessons in telegraphy from the father. So 
apt a pupil was he that the railroad company soon gave him 
regular employment, and at seventeen he had become one of 
the most expert operators on the road. 

There was a saving human quality of error in the boy to 
amply redeem him from the colorless perfection of the story- 
book model. One is almost glad to hear that he was not by 
any means a paragon as an operator, and that he played 
"tricks on the company by inventing a device which would 
automatically send in the signal to show he was awake at his 
post, what time he comfortably snored in the corner. Some 
such boyish mischief soon sent him in disgrace over the line 
to Canada. The heavy winter had cut off telegraphic connec- 
tions and all other means of communications between the 
place in which he was sojourning and the American town 
of Sarnia. With characteristic promptness and originality 
Edison mounted a locomotive and tooted a telegraphic mes- 



614 LEADERS OF MEN. 

sage, again and again, across the river until the American 
understood and answered in kind. 

For the next few years Edison was successively in charge 
of important wires in Memphis, Cincinnati, New Orleans 
and Louisville. He lived in the free and easy atmosphere of 
the tramp operators — a boon companion with them, yet 
absolutely refusing to join in the dissipations to which they 
were professionally addicted. He has always been a total 
abstainer and a singularly moderate man in everything but 
work, for which he is a perfect glutton. Many are the stories 
current of the timely aid given his rollicking colleagues when 
their potations had led them into trouble. It was their cus- 
tom when a spree was on the tapis, to make him the custodian 
of those funds which they felt obliged to save. On a more 
than usually hilarious occasion one of them returned rather 
the worse for wear and knocked the treasurer down on 
his refusal to deliver the trust money ; the other depositors, 
we are glad to say, gave the ungentlemanly tippler a sound 
thrashing. But, though Edison could be trusted with his col- 
leagues' money, he was himself in a chronic state of penury, 
since he devoted every cent, regardless of future needs, to 
scientific books and materials for experiments. Nor was he 
in any great favor with his employers ; they wanted opera- 
tors, not inventors, so they — not unreasonably — said. 

At one time he was in such straits that a necessary jour- 
ney from Memphis to Louisville had to be performed on foot. 
At the Louisville station he was offered excellent chances to 
put his extraordinary skill to use. He had perfected a style 
of handwriting which would allow him to take from the wire 
in very legible long hand forty seven and even fifty-four 
words a minute. As he was but a moderately rapid sender, 
he invented an automatic help which enabled him to record 
the matter at leisure and send it off as fast as was needed. Of 
this Louisville stay, one of his biographers says : — 

"True to his dominant instincts, he was not long in gather- 
ing around him a laboratory, printing office, and machine 
shop. He took press reports during his whole stay, including 
on one occasion the presidential message and veto of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia by Andrew Johnson, and this at one sitting, 
from 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 a.m. He then paragraphed the matter 
received over the wires so that each printer had exactly three 



THOMAS ALVA EDISOX. 615 

lines, thus enabling a column to be set up in two or three 
minutes' time. For this he was allowed all the exchanges he 
desired, and the Louisville press gave him a state dinner." 

In 1868, Edison attracted much attention by a device utiliz- 
ing one submarine cable for two circuits. It won him a posi- 
tion in the Franklin telegraph office of Boston. He came 
East with no ready money, and in a rather dilapidated condi- 
tion. His colleagues were tempted by his " hayseed " appear- 
ance to " salt " him, as professional slang terms the process 
of giving a receiver matter faster than he can record it. For 
this purpose the new man was assigned to a wire manipulated 
by a New York operator famous for his speed. But there was 
no fun at all. Notwithstanding the fact that the New Yorker 
was "in the game" and was doing his most speedy "clip," 
Edison wrote out the long message accurately, and, when he 
realized the situation, was soon firing taunts over the wire at 
the sender's slowness. 

A year later Edison received his first patent — a machine 
for recording votes, and designed to be used in the state Leg- 
islature. It was an ingenious device, by which the votes 
were clearly printed and shown on a roll of paper by a small 
machine attached to the desk of each member. The inven- 
tion was never used, and Mr. Edison tells with a comical 
twinkle in his eyes how amazed he was to hear, on present- 
ing it to the authorities, that such an invention was out of the 
question ; that the better it worked the more impossible it 
would be, for its use would destroy the most precious right of 
the minority — that of filibustering. The inventor thinks, 
however, that he received quite the worth of his trouble in 
the lesson taught him to make sure of the practical need of 
and demand for a machine before spending his energies on it. 
In this same year, Edison came to New York friendless 
and in debt on account of the expense of his experiments. 
For several weeks he wandered about the town with actual 
hunger staring him in the face. It was a time of great finan- 
cial excitement, and with that strange quality of opportunism 
which one would think had been woven into his destiny, he 
entered the establishment of the Law Gold Reporting Com- 
pany just as their entire plant had shut down on account of an 
accident in the machinery that could not be located. The 
heads of the firm were anxious and excited to the last degree, 



616 LEADERS OF MEN. 

and a crowd of the Wall street fraternity waited about for the 
news which came not. The shabby stranger put his finger on 
the difficulty at once, and was given lucrative employment. 
In the rush of the metropolis a man finds his true level with- 
out delay, especially when his talents are of so practical and 
brilliant a nature as were this young telegrapher's. It would 
be an absurdity to imagine an Edison hidden in New York. 
Within a short time he was presented with a check for $40,000, 
as his share of a single invention — an improved stock printer. 
From this time a national reputation was assured him. He 
was, too, now engaged on the duplex and quadruplex systems, 
which were almost to inaugurate a new era in telegraphy. 

" Do you have regular hours, Mr. Edison ? " was asked not 
long ago. " Oh," he said, " I do not work hard now. I come 
to the laboratory about eight o'clock every day, and go home 
to tea at six, and then I study or work on some problem until 
eleven, which is my hour for bed." 

" Fourteen or fifteen hours a day can scarcely be called 
loafing," was suggested. 

" Well," he replied, "for fifteen years I have worked on an 
average twenty hours a day."' 

That astonishing brain has been known to puzzle for sixty 
successive hours over a refractory problem, its owner drop- 
ping quietly off into a long sleep when the job was done, to 
awake perfectly refreshed and ready for another siege. Mr. 
Dickson, a neighbor and familiar, gives an anecdote told by 
Edison which well illustrates his untiring energy and phe- 
nomenal endurance. In describing his Boston experience 
Edison said he bought Faraday's works on electricity, com- 
menced to read them at three o'clock in the morning, and 
continued until his roommate arose, when they started on 
their long walk to get breakfast. That end, however, was 
entirely subordinated in Edison's mind to Faraday, and he 
suddenly remarked to his friend : " Adams, I have got so 
much to do, and life is so short, that I have got to hustle," and 
with that he started off on a dead run for his breakfast." 

Mr. Edison's fine gray eye is the clearest ever looked into, 
and his fresh, wholesome complexion and substantial, though 
not by any means corpulent, figure, are not better described 
than by the stock phrase, '"the picture of health." There is 
none of the lean and hungry look of the overworked student 



THOMAS ALVA EDISON. 617 

about him. His face, though strongly, even magnificently 
chiseled, is almost boyish in its smoothness, and in his man- 
ner there is that flavor of perfect simplicity and cheery good 
will given only to the very great. He is one of the most acces- 
sible of men, and only reluctantly allows himself to be hedged 
in from certain interviewers of the baser sort. "Mr. Edison 
is always glad to see any visitor," said a gentleman who is 
continually with him, " except when he is hot on the trail for 
something he has been working for, and then it is as much as 
a man's head is worth to come in on him," 

The inventor describes himself as possessing only a fair 
amount of manual dexterity in the manipulation of machinery. 
Yet he generally controls with his own fingers the mechanism 
of his experiments. There have been associated with him 
during his working history two or three gentlemen who have 
materially aided him, where a second brain and hand are 
needed. These cooperative experiments have been carried on 
in a very pleasant atmosphere of camaraderie. 

Mr. Edison waxes eloquent and righteously indignant over 
the treatment which the inventor is only too apt to receive. 
He thinks that it is flying in the face of Providence to patent 
an important discovery ; for a race of professional sharks has 
arisen to dispute, with absolute disregard of facts, priority of 
claim to valuable patents. The better known the patentee, 
the more liable are they to swarm about with suborned wit- 
nesses. Mr. Edison has no fault to find with the patent law 
in this matter, but condemns strongly the practice of the 
United States circuit court in issuing injunctions forbidding 
an inventor to use his discovery until the case is decided — a 
period often covering years. He maintains that this works 
great injustice to the honest parties to a suit, and that there is 
•'no protection in patents at all." 

Those who have been associated with Mr. Edison add that 
he has been fleeced by unscrupulous lawyers and patent sharks 
so unmercifully that it is only to be wondered he has any 
faith left in mankind. This is surely a national shame when 
one remembers that his earnings have always been valued by 
him only as a means of furnishing laboratories to give the 
world newer and more wonderful mechanical servants. And 
there is partial comfort in the thought that the great inventor 
has finally been able to surround himself — first at Newark, 



618 LEADERS OF MEN. 

then at Menlo Park, and now at Orange — with all the most 
elaborate paraphernalia of his magic, with the most delicate 
and powerful instruments alike. 

Since Mr. Edison has begun to pose as a capitalist he has 
broadened the borders of his phylacteries by considerable 
investments in the New Jersey lands containing magnetic iron 
ore, and has now quite a mining property not far from his 
workshop. He will practically found a new industry if his 
experiments in ore separating succeed — an attempt for new 
methods that will so reduce the work of extracting the ore 
from the dirt and stones as to bring on a paying basis num- 
bers of mines that are now on the wrong side of the margin 
of profit. 

Perhaps no one is in a position to give a truer estimate of 
the inventor as he appears beyond the threshold of his labora- 
tory than Mr. Edward H. Johnson, who was associated with 
him in the disillusionizing atmosphere of business for twenty 
years. He characterizes Edison as genial and even frolic- 
some, with a temperament which might even be called boy- 
ish. "In the whole course of our connection," says Mr. 
Johnson, "and notwithstanding the many strains on his 
temper and the injustices which he suffered from unscru- 
pulous business antagonists, we have never had but one 
' difference." That was based on a pure misunderstanding 
and has long since died a natural death. My association 
with him has been of the greatest profit and pleasure to me." 

Though Mr. Edison is social in his nature even to the 
point of jollity, he is thoroughly averse to the formulas of a 
conventional society. Can we expect men who work twenty 
hours a day to cultivate the more elaborate graces ? This 
is in some sort to be regretted, especially from the point of 
view of the circles, which, if he were otherwise minded, 
would be open to him ; for he is really a brilliant conver- 
sationalist. But while society loses a lion, the world gains 
a genius. " He has often been heard/' continued Mr. Johnson, 
in his courteous answers to questions, "to express con- 
tempt for an inventor who, having produced a single inven- 
tion, makes a tour of ' society ' to receive its plaudits, and, 
finding the life so agreeable, pursues it permanently, to the 
destruction of his further ambition." 

It is told that in the halcyon days of Mr. Edison's earlier 



THOMAS ALVA EDISON. 619 

manufactories he absolutely refused to have any system of 
bookkeeping, and even kept no record at all of notes to be 
paid. When these fell due, he would drop everything and 
scurry around to raise the necessary funds — this on the prin- 
ciple, as he put it, that the notary's fee on the protested note 
was cheaper than keeping books ! He has learned much since 
then in the stern regime of the business world ; but it is still 
the unqualified opinion of many true friends that both the 
world and Mr. Edison would have been gainers if he had left 
the conduct of the purely business side of his affairs to asso- 
ciates of special commercial training and instincts. For the 
inventor has an intolerance of forms in business, as in society. 
He undertook an active part in the management of the indus- 
tries he had created in consequence of his disappointment at 
the slow development of the electric lighting venture. Mr. 
Johnson gives him credit for fertility of resource and bril- 
liancy of conception in his business management, but easily 
shows how little these avail in the exacting world of com- 
merce when not backed by the patient pursuit of an estab- 
lished order. 

This natural disregard for the forms and minutiae of busi- 
ness affairs has led to anything but a path of roses for Mr. 
Edison in his financial operations. 

" He is frank and open to a degree," said Mr. Johnson, 
" and despite many a sad experience, as well as oft-repeated 
expressions of cynicism under the sense of injustice, he is 
always ready with sympathy and an open hand. When he 
feels himself injured he is bitter for a time, but this passes 
away unless fed by the active hostility of an opponent. 

" He is extremely sensitive to criticism of his motives, 
and is even too apt to interpret a light remark to mean a 
great disparagement. When he is robbed of money he will 
easily forget it ; but if attainted in any moral sense he 
becomes relentless." 

Edison's achievements cannot be separated from com- 
merce. He is an inventor, not a discoverer of underlying 
laws and mathematical formulas. The keynote of his work 
is commercial utility. He is willing to make mathematics, 
pure science, his servant ; but as an end in itself, he has no 
taste for it. He sees in every idea that ever taxed his brain a 
direct, immediate worth to the people about him, though it 



020 LEADERS OF MEN. 

may not be within the limits of human imagination to com- 
prehend the extent of that worth. The masses of his fellows 
and their needs are regarded in every test, in every experi- 
ment, in the most daring new conception, and in the most 
homely improvement alike. He asks himself when a new 
idea is suggested : " Will this be valuable from the industrial 
point of view ? Will it do some important thing better than 
existing methods?" And then, if the answer is clearly 
affirmative, "Can I carry it out?'' He is not so much a 
seeker after truth as he is a mighty engine for the application 
of scientific truths, through unexpected and marvelous chan- 
nels, to the fight we are making "in the patient, modern 
way." He is an inventor purely, and the greatest of his race. 
One might call him the Democrat of Science. 

It is a sign not to be passed over without thought, that the 
first chamber the visitor enters on invading Mr. Edison's work- 
shop at Orange contains his working library with volumi- 
nous and closely packed shelves. It is the sumptuous room 
of the establishment. Taken in connection with the store of 
volumes at his home, his books constitute one of the most 
costly and well equipped scientific libraries in the world ; the 
collection of writings on patent laws and patents, for instance, 
is absolutely exhaustive. It gives in a glance an idea of the 
breadth of thought and sympathy of this man, who grew up 
with scarcely a common school education. Nor will one find 
this self-taught and self-made scientist only a gigantic spe- 
cialist. He will respond to any topic of real interest and 
value, will talk intelligently and quote appositely. 

But while it is significant to note that Mr. Edison's sympa- 
thies have not been dwarfed by his early limitations, yet it is 
the character of specialist, after all, in which he enchains our 
attention ; a more profound impression of him comes when he 
stands in his roomy but topsy-turvy laboratory, with its two 
well-hung and well-locked doors, or when he is directing the 
assistants and skillful workmen, who follow his behest with 
something nearly akin to reverence. In the huge system of 
electrical manufactories with which he is associated not a 
very large proportion of the best helpers come from the col- 
leges, so many of which now have special courses in the new 
profession. The college training has the danger of spoiling 
them for the necessary rough manual labor. For a long time 



THOMAS ALVA EDISON. 621 

a test was applied when a new man came in. He was told 
that one of his duties would be to sweep the floor in the morn- 
ing — this, of course, only to try him. But if he bridled up 
and resented it as an insult, it was evident that he could 
never be of much use as an electrician. 

Two centuries ago Edison would have had a poor chance 
to escape the stake if the good people of Salem had taken an 
awed peep at the uncanny materials of his stock room. In 
these multitudinous drawers and shelves lurk unearthly relics 
of birds, beasts, plants, and crawling things. The skins of 
snakes and fishes, the pelts of an extraordinary number of 
fur-bearing animals, some of them exceedingly rare, the hide 
and teeth of sharks and hippopotami, rhinoceros horns, the 
fibers of strange exotic plants, all manner of textile sub- 
stances and precious stones from the uttermost parts of the 
earth, are there waiting to bridge over their destined gap in 
some important machine. Many of the great inventions have 
awaited a laborious trial of this infinite variety of material 
before they became practical. "'That,'' said Mr. Edison, 
pointing to a globe inclosing the filament of the incandescent 
light, " never would work right, no matter how hard we tried, 
till the fiber of a particular kind of bamboo was put in " — the 
marvelously delicate, quivering elastic thread which we have 
all seen. The phonograph, too, was only perfected after find- 
ing the value of the hard sapphire stone for several of its parts 
— the reproducing ball, the recording knife, and others. 

A later development of the musical phonograph is among 
the last devices which Mr. Edison has perfected. The cylinders 
of this instrument can record the most elaborate musical instru- 
mentation. It is hard to believe, but the machine has been so 
delicately constructed that the very quality of tone in most 
instruments was preserved. The effect is its special value, 
which Mr. Edison has spent much work in attaining. One 
feels tempted to pinch one's self to break the dream when the 
violin's long drawn notes with their sympathy and pathos, 
the 'cello's marvelous tone, the firm, clear, reed sounds of the 
flute, and the cornet's blare are ground out of this insignificant 
bundle of bolts and bars — the whole of which one might 
almost get into a peck measure. 

Perhaps it will give a better idea of what Mr. Edison's 
work means to the world than any generalization or enumer- 



622 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ation to simply state that the duplex and quadruplex systems 
of telegraphy begun by him in I860, and finished after six 
years of work, have saved in America alone the enormous sum 
of $20,000,000. By the duplex system two currents of differ- 
ent degrees of strength were sent over the wire in the same 
direction, thus doubling its efficiency, while the quadruplex 
arrangement became possible when it was discovered that 
these two currents could be sent in opposite directions at the 
same time — thus enabling one wire to transmit four simulta- 
neous messages. Not satisfied with this, Mr. Edison is con- 
fident of attaining sextuplex and octuplex systems. 

Through the mysterious qualities of a carbon button, Mr. 
Edison has been able to construct a little machine called the 
tasimeter, which, in different forms, measures degrees of heat, 
of moisture, and — in the odoroscope and microphone — of 
odors and sounds so small that it is difficult for the human 
mind to grasp the situation. The tasimeter will show a sensi- 
ble deflection at the one-millionth of a degree Fahrenheit. 
The heat from the human body standing eight feet away will 
be accurately registered ; a lighted cigar held at the same dis- 
tance will give a large deflection, as will the heat of a common 
gas jet one hundred feet away. When it was arranged to be 
sensitive to moisture, this astonishing instrument was deflected 
eleven degrees by a drop of water held on the finger five 
inches away. The microphone multiplies the intensity of 
sound by the hundred thousand, making the passage of the 
tiniest insect sound like a mighty, deafening roar. 

Edison's experiments have extended into many fields out- 
side the purely electrical. How many times he has pursued 
the will-o'-the-wisp of a deluding prospect to a stern recogni- 
tion of an unfruitful end, probably he alone can tell. A 
devoted student of chemical science, he has delighted in delv- 
ing in this fascinating and noble domain. 

It is related that a distinguished scientist, visiting Edison 
within the year, spoke of some experiments he had made in a 
direction that he supposed was unknown and untried. 

"Did you try this,*' inquired Edison, "and did you get 
such a result?'' The visitor was astonished. Edison had 
made the experiments and, with a sure hand, had gone direct 
to the heart of the matter and had reached the same unique 
result. 



THOMAS ALVA EDISON. 623 

He would say to all visiting inventors seeking advice and 
encouragement: "I will listen to you, but one thing is 
barred — no 'perpetual motion' schemes will ever be con- 
sidered." 

Edison has probably been more fortunate in combining his 
versatile inventive ability with commercial success than any 
other inventor living or dead. Not content with one achieve- 
ment and its riches, vast sums received from success in one 
line are expended in research and experiment in other lines. 
His private laboratory at Orange, N. J., is lavishly planned 
and stocked with every known tool, with chemical, mineral, 
metallic, and organic substances, and the pay-roll of the past 
ten years would amount to a king's ransom. With natural 
bent, genius, unflagging industry, wonderful discernment and 
deliberate selection of subject, Edison may truly be said to be 
the greatest exponent of invention, as an art, the world has 
yet known. 

To-day the world is waiting for the practical introduction 
of what may prove to be Edison's greatest commercial suc- 
cess — the storage battery. 

Edison was recently asked to name his principal inven- 
tions. He replied characteristically : — 

" The first and foremost was the idea of the electric light- 
ing station ; then — let me see, what have I invented? — 
well, there was the mimeograph, and the electric pen, and the 
carbon telephone, and the incandescent lamp and its accesso- 
ries, and the quadruplex telegraph, and the automatic tele- 
graph, and the phonograph, and the kinetoscope, and — I don't 
know, a whole lot of other things." 

When asked if he thought the achievements of the twen- 
tieth century would surpass those of the one just closed, he 
said with much enthusiasm : — 

" They certainly will. In the first place, there are more of 
us to work, and, in the second place, we know more. The 
achievement of the past is merely a point of departure, and 
you know that, in our art, ' impossible ' is an impossible 
word." 

Edison is a true captain of industry. Work, constant, 
enthusiastic work, has ever been his motto. Idleness has no 
charms for him, and scarcely has recreation or things that 
please the palate. His analytical, questioning, and sanguine 
mind is ever reaching for new fields of endeavor. His con- 



624 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ception is keen and searching, and he puts the impress of 
progress on whatever he touches. May he be with us many 
years ! His achievements, it is safe to say, will endure to the 
end. 

THE VALUE OF AX IDEA. 



jTDEAS, not gold, govern the world. Machines do much of 
jf the world 's work, but machines are born of ideas. A 
I human worker without ideas is only a machine. He is 
content to serve all his life, doing the same work over and 
over again, making the same thing year after year, without 
progress, ambition, or purpose. It is the thinking man who 
becomes master workman, perhaps proprietor. Ideas become 
to him an inspiration and force. They rally his intellectual 
powers ; and these control and develop his physical ability. 
Stupidity becomes a machine in the workshop of life, but ideas 
only can make a man. 

It is no chance system that returns to the Hindu citizen a 
penny, and to the American laborer a dollar for his daily toil ; 
that makes Mexico, with its mineral wealth, poor, and New 
England, with its granite and ice, rich : that bids the elements 
in one country become subservient to the wants of man, 
and in another to sport idly and run to waste ; it is thought 
that makes the difference. Ideas do not stir the Hindu and 
Mexicans as they do the American. Here they beget enter- 
prise and invincible courage that defy difficulties and sur- 
mount obstacles. They assure victory. 

Young people should take in the worth of an idea, for this 
will exert great influence upon the occupation they choose, 
the methods they adopt, and the books they read. Idealess 
occupations, associates, and books should be avoided, since 
they are not friendly to intelligent manhood and womanhood. 
Ideas make the wise man ; the want of them makes the fool. 

Roger Sherman, a poor boy in Newton, Massachusetts, was 
apprenticed to a shoemaker for his board and clothes. There 
was every prospect that the poverty of his father would be 
that of the son, and that he would never rise higher than the 
last on which he worked and the pegs he drove. But early in 
life the idea took possession of his soul, " I can become a law- 
yer." How it could be done was not quite plain to him ; but 
from the time the idea possessed him, he said that it must be 
done. 




EDISON IN HIS LABORATORY. 



THE VALUE OF AN IDEA. 627 

That idea was the making of him. It rallied his latent 
faculties, and bent them to one end. To become a lawyer 
was the dream of his youth. Obstacles dwindled away before 
the indomitable spirit which that one idea nursed into stal- 
wart life. Every leisure moment became a self-improving 
moment. A book was his constant companion. Spare time 
was the most valuable time of all, for it was used to improve 
his intellect, and fit him for the duties of a noble manhood. 
His occupation became a teacher to him. and the world a 
school. He learned from everything around him ; and, at 
thirty-three years of age, he was admitted to the bar. The 
dream of his boyhood was realized. The idea that possessed 
him at twelve years of age lifted him out of the dull routine 
to which he seemed to be doomed for life, and placed him at 
once higher up in the scale of being. 

Roger Sherman grew greater and greater as long as he 
lived. He became one of the founders of our republic. He 
was second to no public man as a statesman and wise coun- 
selor, and was one of the committee appointed to draft the 
Declaration of Independence. His wisdom and ability were 
leading factors in the direction and outcome of the Revo- 
lution. Jefferson wrote of him, " He never said a foolish 
thing in his life." It might have been said of him, in his 
age, as it was of another. " He was so loaded with laurels that 
he could scarcely stand erect." The idea of his boyhood, of 
which we have spoken, was worth to him all that he became 
worth. 

Gutenberg was a thoughtful young man, familiar with 
manuscript volumes, of which the age in which he lived could 
furnish but few. One day, when he was in a meditative 
mood, a new idea flashed upon his mind, namely, that letters 
might be invented with which to print books, instead of writ- 
ing and copying them. He unfolded his idea to his wife, and 
she indorsed the suggestion heartily, whereupon the inventor 
proceeded at once to reduce his idea to practice. His decided 
inventive genius soon triumphed, and the art of printing 
became reality. 

Gutenberg, who had been a skilled lapidary, now turned 
his attention to bookmaking, since which time the value of 
his new idea to the world has been illustrated by wonderful 
progress in the art. In contrast with the slow, difficult, and 



628 LEADERS OF MEN. 

very imperfect method of making books by Gutenberg's let- 
ters, the methods of our day, multiplying volumes like the 
leaves of the forest, are magical indeed. The art of bookmak- 
ing now is characterized by rapidity, elegance, and cheapness. 
With the latest improvement in the printing press, it is possi- 
ble to supply the demands of the world for books at a price 
that brings them within the reach of even the poor. The 
rapidity with which books are multiplied is a marvel of our 
times. A roll of paper, containing a thousand yards, will run 
through a Hoe press with almost incredible speed, printing 
sheets enough for five thousand volumes in a single day. In 
printing newspapers, a roll of paper at one end of the press is 
turned out at the other end, printed on both sides, and folded 
ready for mailing, at the rate of five thousand papers an hour. 
Equally remarkable has been the progress in typesetting, both 
by hand and machinery, and it is all the outcome of Guten- 
berg's idea of making letters. The inventor set in motion a 
train of influences that has changed the secular and moral 
condition of mankind. We cannot estimate the value of 
Gutenberg's idea. 

Nor can we compute the value of Morse's idea, that gave 
us the electric telegraph. Morse was coming from Havre 
to New York city on board the ship Sully. Dr. Charles S. 
Jackson, of Boston, was on board, and was describing an 
experiment made in Paris with an electro-magnet, by means 
of which electricity had been transmitted through a great 
length of wire arranged in circles around the walls of an 
apartment. Morse, who was a painter, and had just com- 
pleted a three years' residence in Europe to perfect himself 
in his art, excitedly said, when Dr. Jackson finished, " Then 
messages may be transmitted by electricity." 

There the telegraph was born. It only remained to test 
the idea. This Morse did, surmounting great obstacles, over- 
coming the most discouraging difficulties, making progress 
slowly, but surely, until he had the real thing, — the telegraph. 
Who can estimate its worth to-day ? Ask the man of busi- 
ness who communicates by telegraph with the four quarters 
of the globe. The recent fire in New York which destroyed 
the headquarters of the great Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany interrupted the business of the whole civilized world for 
a day, or until the company renewed the business in another 



THE VALUE OF AN IDEA. 629 

place. Such is the importance of the telegraph in our day, 
and such is the value of Morse's idea on board the Sully. 

Patrick Henry is another illustration of our theme. In his 
boyhood he appeared to think more of a fishing rod and gun 
than he did of true manhood, or a good name. He was not a 
machine, but was devoid of laudable ambition and enterprise. 
The time came, however, when a new and nobler idea flashed 
upon him. He saw that he might become an honored citizen. 
He resolved to enter the legal profession, and set himself 
about preparing therefor with a will. In an almost incredibly 
short time, he was admitted to the bar as a practitioner. His 
success was phenomenal. He handled the first case of impor- 
tance that came to his management with consummate skill, 
and exhibited such power of eloquence that his most intimate 
friends were astonished. He won the case by his adroit man- 
agement and bewitching oratory, and the admiring crowd 
bore him in triumph upon their shoulders from the court 
room. An idea did it. But for the thought that awakened 
him from his reverie one day, in early manhood, he might not 
have outgrown his gun and fishing rod. " I can do something- 
better than this," he said ; and he did. The idea roused his 
whole being to begin and run a marvelous race. 

The worth of an idea is illustrated in the ordinary walks of 
life. In every place, and at all times, we are reminded that a 
single thought is the most valuable legacy bequeathed to us. 
In articles of furniture that make our homes comfortable, and 
the utensils of the kitchen that lighten labor and administer 
to human wants, we find much to magnify the worth of a 
thought. Once they were only ideas in the brain of the 
inventor. 

So small an article as the watch which we carry in our vest 
pocket involves principles of construction, the discovery and 
development of which have brought the race* out of ages of 
mental gloom. Yet how few note their indebtedness to ideas 
when they consult their watches. They keep time, and that 
is enough ; and they would be just as good for that if they grew 
like acorns. 

Says another: "What a miracle of art, that a man can 
teach a few brass wheels and a little piece of elastic steel to 
out-calculate himself : to give him a rational answer to one of 
the most important questions which a being traveling toward 



630 LEADERS OF MEN. 

eternity can ask. What a miracle that a man can put within 
this little machine a spirit that measures the flight of time with 
greater accuracy than the unassisted intellect of the pro- 
foundest philosopher ; which watches and moves when sleep 
palsies alike the hand of the maker and the mind of the con- 
triver ; nay, when the last sleep has come over them both.'' 
And the author of all this was a solitary idea in the mind of 
Galileo, when he stood watching the oscillation of a lamp in 
the Metropolitan Temple of Pisa. A clear, vivid idea of the 
correct measurement of time flashed upon his mind, and his 
name and fame became immortal. 

Despise not an idea ; for the smallest is better than none. 
A man of one idea is sometimes ridiculed. Garrison was per- 
secuted for his anti-slavery idea ; but it wrought a revolution. 
It made him a public benefactor. His idea was worth all that 
liberty was worth. The youth who is rich in ideas will never 
be poor in reputation. 

Many authors of good ideas have failed to reduce them to 
practice. They lacked the practical talent necessary to reap 
the profits of valuable conceptions. Hence, many inventors 
have derived no pecuniary advantage from their inventions ; 
other parties have stepped in and taken the profits. They 
were able to beat the bush, but others caught the bird. The 
discoverer of gold at Sutter's Mill, California, and the proprie- 
tor of the mill never got rich ; both died poor. They could 
discover, but they failed to appropriate and keep. It may 
require less tact, industry, and perseverance to beget a valua- 
ble idea than to reduce it to practice ; for greater difficulties 
may obstruct the way of the latter, and more complications, 
even, may attend its consummation. Almost without excep- 
tion, the successful men, who have made the best practical 
use of their ideas, have been men of marked courage, appli- 
cation, tact, and determination. Ordinary difficulties did not 
cause them to hesitate for a moment and extraordinary ones 
seemed to arouse their whole being to almost superhuman 
efforts. 

An illustration of this point was brought to the attention 
of the American people when Congress voted a gold medal to 
Mr. Joseph Francis, of Washington, for " his distinguished 
services in discovering and applying scientific principles to 
inventions for saving human life and other humane pur- 



THE VALUE OF AN IDEA. 631 

poses." The medal cost six thousand dollars, and was orna- 
mented with designs emblematic of the recipient's life work. 

It was presented to him by President Harrison. This 
crowning act of his success came late in life ; nor was this 
distinction gained without heroic struggles with poverty, 
opposition, and ridicule, as the following brief sketch of his 
life proves : — 

Mr. Francis was a Boston boy, and served as page in the 
Massachusetts Legislature, from eleven to sixteen years of 
age. In 1812, when he was twelve years old, there was an 
unprecedented number of destructive shipwrecks, and the 
terrible tales of horror wrought deeply upon the sensitive 
nature of this gifted boy. The war had destroyed his father's 
property, and broken up a family of seven children, so that 
Joseph's earnings were necessary, to the last cent, to aid in 
the support of his brothers and sisters. In these circum- 
stances, it was the more remarkable that he should conceive 
the idea of a lifeboat, and proceed — a boy of twelve years — 
to produce a model. Every moment, when he was not 
required to be at the State House, he spent in a workshop on 
Clark street, near Hanover. His progress was slow but sure. 
With pluck and hope he worked on. sometimes baffled and 
disappointed, and often laughed at, but never yielding to dis- 
couragement. He was eighteen years old when his lifeboat, 
with all its life-saving qualities, was completed, and was 
placed on exhibition at the fair of the Mechanics' Institute, in 
Boston, in 1810. He crossed the Rubicon when his lifeboat 
was complete. The battle of his life was won by that early 
struggle. What manner of stuff he was made of became 
manifest then. The thought, tact, resolution, and force of 
character necessary to produce the lifeboat, were competent 
to produce more and greater results. 

The author of Thrift accounts for the failure of some 
men to derive advantages from valuable conceptions, by say- 
ing : " Some of the best and noblest of men are wanting in 
tact. They will neither make allowance for circumstances, 
nor adapt themselves to circumstances ; they will insist upon 
driving their wedge the broad end foremost ; they raise walls 
only to run their own heads against ; they make such great 
preparations, and use such great precautions, that they 
defeat their own object,— like the Dutchman mentioned by 



632 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Washington Irving, who, having to leap a ditch, went so far 
back to have a good run at it, that when he came up he was 
completely winded, and had to sit down on the wrong side to 
recover his breath.'' 

In contrast with this, we see how Francis went to work in 
the straightest and shortest way to accomplish his purpose. 
He was not only competent to conceive, but having cultivated 
those manly qualities that one must possess in order to win, 
he was equally well prepared to execute. He would give 
practical force to any noble conception. 

At the Mechanics' Fair, in 1819, he received a certificate of 
merit and a handsome cash prize for his lifeboat ; and, at the 
same time, secured the lifelong friendship of Henry Grinnell, 
of New York, and Gen. John A. Dix, author of the famous 
order, " Whoever pulls down the American flag, shoot him on 
the spot.*' Grinnell said to him, "Persevere; you are an 
inventor and manufacturer, and your improvements are but a 
beginning in a good cause." Young Francis profited by this 
friendly counsel, and pressed forward until he fairly earned, 
the world over, the honor of being ''Father of the life-saving 
service.'' 

In 1838, another and grander conception engaged the mind 
of Francis — that of an iron ship. Although poor and needy, 
he hastened to reduce his idea to practice. Having provided 
a very humble home for his family in the country, he shut 
himself up in a workshop on Anthony street, New York city, 
to produce his ideal iron vessel. It took him six years to put 
his conception into a real ship, and they were years of hard 
study, and harder struggles with want and the indifference of 
friends. 

In 1847, his famous metal life car was completed ; but Con- 
gress repulsed its author, and the Secretary of the Treasury 
said to him : — 

"There .is no means known under Heaven, nor will there 
ever be, of saving life under circumstances such as you 
recount ; besides, the government cannot afford to try experi- 
ments. Try your life car, and, if it will do anything like what 
you represent, you may rest assured the government will 
adopt it." 

Francis was equal to the occasion. While protesting against 
the attitude of the government, he spent the next two years in 



THE VALUE OF AN IDEA. 633 

proving to the world, at his own expense, the great value of 
his invention ; and his success spread his fame over both con- 
tinents. From that time his life was a succession of triumphs 
in America and Europe. Subsequent to 1855, he spent several 
years in Europe, establishing immense factories for the manu- 
facture of his iron boats, vessels, and life cars, floating docks, 
pontoon bridges and wagons, for five of the leading European 
governments. Medals, diplomas, and royal honors were show- 
ered upon him from the highest authorities. Crowned heads 
recognized his services in the interests of humanity ; and it is 
claimed that no American, except General Grant, was ever 
more kindly received and honored by nobles and monarchs 
than Mr. Francis. 

This is a remarkable life, with its lessons for every reader. 
The conception of the great idea of his life was the easiest part 
of.it. His trials and exhausting labors came when he 
attempted to reduce it to practice. Had he been no more res- 
olute and invincible than the average American, his concep- 
tion never would have attained a real form. He would have 
soon found excuse for abandoning his idea in the poverty that 
oppressed him, or the difficulties that beset his way. But his 
noble qualities of mind and heart served him better than 
wealth. They won success for him without private or public 
patronage. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER. 



ON THE IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS HIS RANK AMONG THE 

CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY HIS GREAT WEALTH PLACE OF HIS BIRTH 

PARENTAL QUALITIES INHERITED HIS BOYHOOD MARKED BY INDUSTRY 

AND ECONOMY REMOVED TO CLEVELAND INTEREST IN CHURCH WORK 

EDUCATION BEGINNING OF HIS INDUSTRIAL CAREER HIS INTRO- 
DUCTION TO THE OIL INDUSTRY THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY OTHER 

BUSINESS ENTERPRISES HIS PERSONALITY HOMES AND HOME LIFE TO 

WHAT HIS WONDERFUL SUCCESS IS DUE PHILANTHROPIES. THE LEDGER 

OF ECONOMY. 

It has always seemed to me that there is something unfor- 
tunate in being born in a city. Most young men brought up 
in New York and other large centers have 
not had the struggle which come to us who 
were reared in the country. It is a notice- 
able fact that the country men are crowding 
out the city fellows who have wealthy fathers. 
They are willing to do more work, and to go 
through more for the sake of winning success 
in the end. Sons of wealthy parents have not 
a ghost of a show in competition with the 
fellows who come from the country with a 
determination to do something in the world. 
What benefited me the most was the new insight I gained 
as to what a great place the world really is. I had plenty of 
ambition, and saw that if I was to accomplish much I would 
have to work very, very hard indeed. 

In my early career I was very economical, just as I am 
economical now. Economy is a virtue. A glance through 
my first ledger shows me how carefully I kept account of my 
receipts and disbursements. I only wish more young men 
could be induced to keep accounts nowadays. It would go 
far toward teaching them the value of money. 

My advice is : keep a little ledger, write down in it what 
you receive, and do not be ashamed to write down what you 




JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER. 635 

pay away. See that you pay it away in such a manner that 
your father or mother may look over your book and see just 
what you do with your money. It will help you to save 
money, and that you ought to do. 

I think it is a man's duty to make all the money he can, 
keep all he can, and give away all he can. I have followed 
this principle religiously all my life. But always live within 
your means. One of the swiftest toboggan slides I know of is 
for a young fellow, just starting out into the world, to go in 
debt. 

The chief thing to which I ascribe my business success is 
early training, and the fact that I was wulling to persevere. I 
do not think there is any other quality so essential to success 
of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes 
almost everything, even nature. 

But don't make the mistake that the struggle for success 
means nothing but money. Money is good only if you know 
how to use it. Some have all the money they need to provide 
for their wants, and still are poor. Indeed, the poorest man I 
know of is the man who has nothing but money ; — nothing 
else in the world upon which to fix his ambition and thought. 
That is the sort of man I consider to be the poorest in the 
world. 





•@)TMONG the American captains of industry, Mr. John D. 

l_ .Rockefeller is the greatest. He combines with this 
position that of a master of finance, and it may be that 
in this field he will yet prove as great as, or greater than, Mr. 
Pierpont Morgan. But as this one is first of all a financier, so 
the other is above and beyond everything a master in the 
industrial field. It is surprising how very much is told of Mr. 
Rockefeller, and how very little is known concerning him. The 
material for a book has been published in the newspapers, and 
the writers have vied with one another in presenting his great 
wealth in the most bewildering lights, yet it is a positive fact 
that no man except Mr. Rockefeller himself knows what his 
wealth amounts to. His partners in various enterprises, and 
the officers of the many companies in which he has invested 



636 LEADERS OF MEN. 

his wealth, all know something about his means, but no man 
knows everything about them. 

It is to be doubted whether Mr. Rockefeller himself knows 
how much he is worth, and if he knew to-day, the fluctuations 
of the listed stocks on the exchange, minute and like the trem- 
blings of a needle though they are, must alter the sum of his 
wealth with every hour and minute of each working day. 

We read a great deal about only one sort of change in his 
wealth ; the steady growth* of the same by the accretions of 
interest. These are always published upon the assumption 
that Mr. Rockefeller is the richest man in the world, and that 
he is worth two hundred millions of dollars. This is set down 
to his credit in spite of the fact that he has testified in court 
that he does not know within ten millions of dollars what his 
vast fortune amounts to. 

John Davison Rockefeller was born in Richford, Tioga 
County, N. Y., July 8, 1839. His father, William Avery, was 
a physician and business man as well. With great energy he 
cleared the forest, built a sawmill, loaned his money, and, 
like his noted son, knew how to overcome obstacles. 

The mother, Eliza Davison, was a woman of rare common 
sense and executive ability. Self-poised in manner, charita- 
ble, persevering in whatever she attempted, she gave careful 
attention to the needs of her family, but did not forget that 
she had Christian duties outside her home. The devotion of 
Mr. Rockefeller to his mother as long as she lived was 
marked, and worthy of example. 

The Rockefeller home in Richford was one of mutual work 
and helpfulness. All were taught the value of labor and of 
economy. The eldest son, John, early took responsibility 
upon himself. Willing and glad to work, he cared for the 
garden, milked the cows, and acquired the valuable habit of 
never wasting his time. When about nine years old he raised 
and sold turkeys, and instead of spending the money, proba- 
bly his first earnings, saved it, and loaned it at seven per 
cent. It would be interesting to know if the lad ever dreamed 
then of being, perhaps, the richest man in America. 

In 1853 the Rockefeller family moved to Cleveland, Ohio ; 
and John, then fourteen years of age, entered the high school. 
He was a studious boy, especially fond of mathematics and 
of music, and learned to play the piano : he was retiring 



JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER. 637 

in manner, and exemplary in conduct. When between four- 
teen and.fifteen years of age, he joined the Erie Street Baptist 
Church of Cleveland, Ohio, now known as the Euclid Avenue 
Baptist Church, where he has been from that time an ear- 
nest and most helpful worker. The boy of fifteen did not 
confine his work in the church to prayer meetings and Sun- 
day school. There was a church debt, and it had to be paid. 
He began to solicit money, standing in the church door as the 
people went out, ready to receive what each was willing to 
contribute. He gave also of his own as much as was possible ; 
thus learning early in life, not only to be generous, but to 
incite others to generosity. 

When about eighteen or nineteen, he was made one of the 
board of trustees of the church, which position he held till his 
absence from the city in the past few years prevented his serv- 
ing. He has been the superintendent of the Sunday school of 
the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church for about thirty years. 
When he had held the office for twenty-five years the Sunday 
school celebrated the event by a reception for their leader. 
After addresses and music, each one of the five hundred or 
more persons present shook hands with Mr. Rockefeller, and 
laid a flower on the table beside him. From the first he has 
won the love of the children from his sympathy, kindness, and 
his interest in their welfare. No picnic even would be satis- 
factory to them without his presence. 

After two years passed in the Cleveland high school, the 
school year ending June, 1855, young Rockefeller took a sum- 
mer course in the Commercial College, and at sixteen was 
ready to see what obstacles the business world presented to a 
boy. He found plenty of them. It was the old story of every 
place seeming to be full ; but he would not allow himself to be 
discouraged by continued refusals. He visited manufacturing 
establishments, stores, and shops, again and again, determined 
to find a position. 

He succeeded on the 26th of September, 1855, and became 
assistant bookkeeper in the forwarding and commission house 
of Hewitt & Tuttle. He did not know what pay he was to 
receive ; but he knew he had taken the first step towards suc- 
cess, — he had obtained work. At the end of the year, for the 
three months, October, November, and December, he received 
fifty dollars, — not quite four dollars a week. 



G38 LEADERS OF MEN. 

The next year he was paid twenty-five dollars a month, or 
three hundred dollars a year, and at the end of fifteen months 
accepted a position with the same firm, at five hundred dol- 
lars, as cashier and bookkeeper, supplanting a man who had 
been receiving a salary of two thousand dollars. 

Desirous of earning more, young Rockefeller after a time 
asked for eight hundred dollars as wages ; and, the firm 
declining to give over seven hundred dollars a year, the enter- 
prising youth, not yet nineteen, decided to start in business 
for himself. He had industry and energy ; he was saving of 
both time and money ; he had faith in his ability to succeed, 
and the courage to try. He had managed to save about a 
thousand dollars ; and his father loaned him another thou- 
sand, on which he paid ten per cent, interest, receiving the 
principal as a gift when he became twenty-one years of age. 
This certainly was a modest beginning for one of the founders 
of the Standard Oil Company. 

Having formed a partnership with Morris B. Clark, in 1858, 
in produce commission and forwarding, the firm name became 
Clark & Rockefeller. The closest attention was given to 
business. Mr. Rockefeller lived within his means, and worked 
early and late, finding little or no time for recreation or amuse- 
ments, but always time for his accustomed work in the 
church. There was always some person in sickness or sor- 
row to be visited, or some stranger to be invited to the prayer 
meetings. 

The firm succeeded in business, and was continued with 
various partners for seven years, until the spring of 18G5. 
During this time some parts of the country, especially Pennsyl- 
vania and Ohio, had become enthusiastic over the finding of 
large quantities of oil through drilling wells. The Petroleum 
Age for December, 1881, gives a most interesting account of 
the first oil well in this country, drilled at Titusville, on Oil 
creek, a branch of the Allegheny river, in August, 1859. 

Petroleum had long been known, both in Europe and 
America, under various names. The Indians used it as a 
medicine, mixed it with paint to anoint themselves for war, or 
set fire at night to the oil that floated upon the surface of their 
creeks, making the illumination a part of their religious cere- 
monies. In Ohio, in 18 19, when, in boring for salt, springs of 
petroleum were found, Professor Hildreth of Marietta wrote 






JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER. 639 

that the oil was used in lamps in workshops, and believed it 
would be '• a valuable article for lighting the street lamps in 
the future cities of Ohio." But forty years went by before the 
first oil well was drilled, when men became almost as deliri- 
ous with excitement as when they rushed to California for 
gold in 1849. 

Several refineries were started in Cleveland to prepare the 
crude oil for illuminating purposes. Mr. Rockefeller, the 
young commission merchant, like his father a keen observer 
of men and things, as early as I860, the year after the first 
well was drilled, helped to establish an oil-refining business 
under the firm name of Andrews, Clark & Co. 

The business increased so rapidly that Mr. Rockefeller sold 
his interest in the commission house in 18G5, and with Mr. 
Samuel Andrews bought out their associates in the refining 
business, and established the firm of Rockefeller & Andrews, 
the latter having charge of the practical details. 

Mr. Rockefeller was then less than twenty-six years old ; 
but an exceptional opportunity had presented itself, and a 
young man of exceptional ability was ready for the oppor- 
tunity. A good and cheap illuminator was a world-wide 
necessity ; and it required brain, and system, and rare busi- 
ness ability to produce the best product, and send it to all 
nations. 

The brother of Mr. Rockefeller, William, entered into the 
partnership ; and a new firm was established, under the name 
of William Rockefeller & Co. The necessity of a business 
house in New York for the sale of their products soon became 
apparent, and all parties were united in the firm of Rocke- 
feller & Co. 

In 1807 Mr. Henry M. Flagler, well known in connection 
with Lis improvements in St. Augustine, Fla., was taken into 
the company, which became Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler. 
Three years later, in 1870, the Standard Oil Company of 
Ohio was established, with a capital of $1,000,000, Mr. Rock- 
efeller being made president. He was also made president of 
the National Refiners' Association. 

He was now thirty-one years old, far-seeing, self-centered, 
quiet and calm in manner, but untiring in work, and compre- 
hensive in his grasp of business. The determination which 
had won a position for him in youth, even though it brought 



640 LEADERS OF MEN. 

him but four dollars a week, the confidence of his ability, 
integrity, and sound judgment, which made the banks willing 
to lend him money, or men willing to invest their capital in 
his enterprise, made him a power in the business world thus 
early in life. 

Mr. Rockefeller has proved himself a remarkable organizer. 
His associates have been able men ; and his vast business has 
been so systematized, and the leaders of departments held 
responsible, that it is managed with comparative ease. 

The Standard Oil Companies own hundreds of thousands of 
acres of oil lands, and wells, refineries, and many thousand 
miles of pipe lines throughout the United States. They have 
business houses in the principal cities of the Old World as 
well as the New, and carry their oil in their own great oil 
steamships abroad as easily as in their pipe lines to the Ameri- 
can seaboard. They control the greater part of the petroleum 
business of this country, and export much of the oil used 
abroad. They employ from forty to fifty thousand men in 
this great industry, many of whom have remained with the 
companies for twenty or thirty years. It is said that strikes 
are unknown among them. 

With such power in their hands, instead of selling their 
product at high rates, they have kept oil at such low prices 
that the poorest all over the world have been enabled to buy 
and use it. 

Mr. Rockefeller has not confined his business interests to 
the Standard Oil Company. A very large proportion of his 
wealth is now in the form of securities and properties in no 
way connected with the petroleum business. He has shown 
amazing shrewdness in buying mining and railroad properties 
when times were bad, or the owners of these stocks were will- 
ing, for other reasons, to sell at low prices. In this way he 
has come to own stocks and bonds in seventeen great rail- 
roads. Other large sums he has invested in sugar trust, Brook- 
lyn Union gas, Consolidated gas (New York), natural gas in 
Ohio, Federal steel, coal mines in Ohio, copper mines in Mon- 
tana, iron mines in the Lake Superior region, lake steamers ; 
also real estate in New York, Chicago, Buffalo, and several 
other cities. In the Standard Oil subsidiary companies alone 
he is said to be a larger owner than in Standard Oil itself ; at 
least his holdings have a larger value than those in the parent 



JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER. 641 

company. He is reputed to control vast railway systems, to 
own every oil car in the land, to possess twenty thousand miles 
of oil tubing, two hundred steamers and seventy thousand 
delivery wagons. He employs twenty-five thousand men, and 
as a financier, employer, a power in the world, he knows no 
rival. 

With all these different lines of business, and being neces- 
sarily a very busy man, he never seems hurried or worried. 
His manner is always kindly and considerate. He is a good 
talker, an equally good listener, and gathers knowledge from 
every source. Meeting the best educators of the country, 
coming in contact with leading business and professional men 
as well, and having traveled abroad and in his own country, 
Mr. Rockefeller has become a man of wide and varied intelli- 
gence. In physique he is of medium height, hair gray, blue 
eyes, and pleasant face. 

He is a lover of trees, never allowing one to be cut down 
on his grounds unless necessity demands it, fond of flowers, 
knows the birds by their song or plumage, and never tires of 
the beauties of nature. 

He is as courteous to a servant as to a millionaire, is social 
and genial, and enjoys the pleasantry of bright conversation. 
He has great power of concentration, is very systematic in 
business and also in his everyday life, allotting certain hours 
to work, and other hours to exercise, the bicycle being one of 
his chief outdoor pleasures. He is fond of animals, and owns 
several valuable horses. A great St. Bernard dog, white and 
yellow, called '•' Laddie," was for years the pet of the house- 
hold and the admiration of friends. When killed accidentally 
by an electric wire, the dog was carefully buried, and the 
grave covered with myrtle. A pretty stone, a foot and a half 
high, cut in imitation of the trunk of an oak tree, at whose 
base fern leaves cluster, marks the spot, with the words, " Our 
dog Laddie ; died, 1895," carved upon a tiny slab. 

It may be comparatively easy to do great deeds, but the 
little deeds of thoughtfulness and love for the dumb creatures 
who have loved us, show the real beauty and refinement of 
character. 

Mr. Rockefeller belongs to few social organizations, his 
church work and his home life sufficing. He is a member of 
the New England Society, the Union League Club of New 



642 LEADERS OF MEN. 

York, and of the Empire State Sons of the Revolution, as his 
ancestors, both on his father's and mother's side, were in the 
Revolutionary War. 

Besides Mr. Rockefeller's summer home in Cleveland, he 
has another with about one thousand acres of land at Pocan- 
tico Hills, near Tarrytown on the Hudson. The place is pic- 
turesque and historic, made doubly interesting through the 
legends of Washington Irving. From the summit of Kaakoote 
mountain the views are of rare beauty. Sleepy Hollow and 
the grave of Irving are not far distant. The winter home in 
New York city is a large brick house, with brownstone front, 
near Fifth avenue, furnished richly but not showily, contain- 
ing some choice paintings and a fine library. 

Mr. Rockefeller will be long remembered as a remarkable 
financier and the founder of a great organization, but he will 
be remembered longest and honored most as a remarkable 
giver. We have many rich men in America, but not all are 
great givers ; not all have learned that it is really more blessed 
to give than to receive ; not all remember that we go through 
life but once, with opportunities to brighten the lives about 
us, and to help to bear the burdens of others. 

Mr. Rockefeller's private charities have been almost 
numberless. He has aided young men and women through 
college, sometimes by gift and sometimes by loan. He has 
provided the means for persons who were ill to go abroad or 
elsewhere for rest. He does not forget, when his apples are 
gathered at Pocantico Hills, to send hundreds of barrels to the 
various charitable institutions in and near New York, or, when 
one of his workingmen dies, to continue the support to his 
family while it is needed. Some of us become too busy to 
think of the little ways of doing good. It is said by those who 
know him best, that he gives more time to his benevolences 
and to their consideration than to his business affairs. He 
employs secretaries, whose time is given to the investigation 
of requests for aid and attending to such cases as are favora- 
bly decided upon. 

When we come to consider his mere opinions of wealth, 
they are at once sensible and surprising. He holds that, since 
no man is so rich that there is not another man who is richer, 
the riches of man only bring discontent and make him feel 
poor. Then again, a man's wealth must be determined by the 




JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER 






THE LEDGER OF ECONOMY. 645 

relation of his desires and expenditures to his income. If he 
feels rich on ten dollars and has everything else he desires, he 
really is rich. But a man's expenses usually increase with 
his income and nearly always bear the same relation to it ; 
therefore, whether he have five thousand or five million, he 
is never very much better off. A man's desires expand to an 
extent wholly disproportioned to his acquisitions, he says, 
and many men have felt much poorer when they have accum- 
ulated a fortune of five million than they did when they had 
but a million. 

Mr. Rockefeller is scarcely past middle life, with, it is 
hoped, many years before him in which to carry out his great 
projects of benevolence. He is as modest and gentle in man- 
ner, as unostentatious and as kind of heart, as when he had 
no millions to give away. He is never harsh, seems to have 
complete self-control, and has not forgotten to be grateful to 
the men who befriended and trusted him in his early business 
life. 

His success may be attributed in part to industry, energy, 
economy, and good sense. He loved his work, and had the 
courage to battle with difficulties. He had steadiness of 
character, the ability to command the confidence of business 
men from the beginning, and gave close and careful attention 
to the matters intrusted to him. 

Mr. Rockefeller will be remembered, not so much because 
he accumulated millions, but because he gave away millions, 
thereby doing great good, and setting a noble example. 

THE LEDGER OF ECONOMY. 

AKE this book and keep an accurate account of your 

expenses," said Mr. H. to his son about leaving for 

Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, where he would 

prepare for college. 

'What good will that do?" responded the son, as if his 

father were requiring him to do a " little thing " too small for 

an aspirant for college honors to be troubled about. 

" What good ! " exclaimed the father, somewhat surprised 
by the spirit in which his suggestion was received. "It is 
one of the things that will help make a man of you, if such a 
thing be possible. You may think it is a small matter to put 
down every cent that you spend ; but I assure you that it will 




646 LEADERS OF MEN. 

have much to do with your habits twenty years from now. 
You want to know where your pocket money goes — a little 
matter, you may think ; but it will do much to incline you to 
virtue instead of vice in manhood." 

This father was not a fussy man ; he did not attach too 
much importance to the expense book ; nor was the son 
an exception among boys in regarding it unimportant, small. 
Young people of both sexes are apt to class it with the "little 
things " that are of no account. Hence, few of them know 
where the pocket money goes. The pennies vanish, and the 
nickels, and their allowance disappears much sooner than 
they expect. Where it is gone is well-nigh a mystery to 
them. 

Right here is the evil of not keeping an expense book. If 
one is not kept in youth, it is probable that it will not be kept 
in manhood and womanhood. That business man of whom 
it is said, " He does not know the worth of a dollar," did not 
keep an expense book in his boyhood. He did not know then 
where his money went, and he does not know now. That 
woman "who keeps her husband's nose to the grindstone" 
continually by her wasteful habits, never thought of an 
expense book in her young days. She spent all she could get 
hold of then, and she spends all she can get hold of now ; 
and she does not know any more about where it goes now 
than she did then. 

An expense book accurately and conscientiously kept, helps 
young people to know themselves. Many have scarcely 
scraped an acquaintance with themselves. They do not see 
how prone they are to spend money for useless and worse than 
useless things ; confections, goodies, knickknacks, fun, and 
so on ad infinitum. The expense book will show what they 
are on this line. They can see themselves in it, as others see 
them. There is the unmistakable record of their weakness. 
It stares them in the face ; there is no such thing as denying 
it, or getting around it. 

To the thoughtful and wise youth, the expense book becomes 
a good teacher, and its lesson is never forgotten. It lasts as 
long as life lasts. 

A young merchant, who was doing a thriving business, was 
generous and jolly. He was wont to keep a box of cigars upon 
his desk for his own use, and the use of his customers, and, 



THE LEDGER OF ECONOMY. 647 

perhaps, his employees. It was the duty of one of the clerks to 
keep the box of cigars replenished ; and he took it into his 
head to keep an account of the number of cigars he put into 
the box in three months. At the end of this period he asked 
ihe merchant if he had any idea of the number and cost of the 
cigars used in three months. 

"Not the least whatever," the merchant replied. "It is 
possible five or six hundred cigars have been used. Perhaps 
not so many." 

"You will be surprised, then, if I tell you," added the clerk, 
" that over two thousand cigars have been put into that box in 
three months, at a cost of not less than one hundred dollars." 

The merchant was surprised, and could scarcely believe 
the statement, for he kept no account of the cigars used, hav- 
ing never kept an account of these little expenses. He kept 
no expense book when he was a boy, and so never thought 
about keeping one when he became a man. Why should he ? 
Is not the boy " father of the man " ? 

Whether the young student of whom we have spoken was 
faithful to keep an account of his expenses or not, we know 
of one boy who was. His parents required him to keep an 
expense book before he was old enough to go away to school. 
When he left home for the academy, his father allowed him 
fifty cents a month for pocket money, with which he could do 
as he pleased. But his expense book set him thinking. It 
would look better if it should show a balance in favor of his 
pocket from month to month. 

The thought decided his course, and he spent but twenty- 
five cents a month, thus saving one half of his allowance. 
The expense book did it. The whole would have gone but for 
that accurate account. He became a noble, affluent man, and 
often said that the expense book of his boyhood contributed 
largely to make him what he was. 

The expense book has often established the habit of econ- 
omy, which has proven the foundation of a fortune ; while, 
on the other hand, neglecting to note the method of spending 
money in early life has led to improvidence and want. " The 
ship which bore home the merchant's treasure was lost 
because it was allowed to leave the port from which it sailed 
with a very little hole in the bottom." "A small leak will 
sink a ship." The expense book may stop the small leak. 



648 LEADERS OF MEN. 

" For want of a nail, the shoe of the aid-de-camp's horse 
was lost ; for want of the shoe, the horse was lost ; for 
want of the horse, the aid-de-camp himself was lost, for the 
enemy took him and killed him ; and for want of the aid- 
de-camp's intelligence, the a-rmy of his general was lost ; and 
all because a little nail had not been properly fixed in the 
horse's shoe," — a good illustration of the manner in which an 
evil habit of youth, though small in itself, may grow and 
curse the whole future life. 

So far as money is concerned, the expense book is designed 
to guard against such a result. 

Amos Lawrence presented to one of his sons on his twelfth 
birthday, an expense book, with the following written on the 
first page : — 

"My dear Sox : — I give you this little book, that you may 
write in it how much money you receive, and how you use it. 
It is of much importance in forming your early character, to 
have correct habits, and a strict regard to truth in all you 
do. For this purpose, I advise you never to cheat yourself by 
making a false entry in this book. If you spend money for 
an object you would not willingly have known, you will be 
more likely to avoid doing the same thing again if you call it 
by its right name here, remembering always that there is One 
who cannot be deceived. I pray God so to guide and direct 
you, that when your stewardship here is ended, he may say 
to you, that the talents intrusted to your care have been 
faithfully employed. Your affectionate father, 

"A. L." 

In 1822, Lawrence wrote to the father of a boy who came 
from Connecticut to serve in his store, " Will it not be well 
for him to furnish you, at stated periods, an exact account of 
his expenditures ? The habit of keeping such an account will 
be serviceable, and, if he is prudent, the satisfaction will be 
great ten years hence, in looking back and observing the 
process by which his character has been formed." 

Joseph Baxendale, one of England's most successful mer- 
chants, was well known for his practical wisdom, and the 
good influence he exerted over his employees. He saw, every 
day, the evils of wasteful habits in early life extending into 
manhood and womanhood, and he sought to accomplish by 
placards what the expense book might have done in boyhood 
and girlhood. He posted up mottoes in his warehouses like 
the following : "A penny saved is a penny earned ; " " He 






THE LEDGER OF ECONOMY. 649 

who spends all he gets, is on the way to beggar} ; ' " Time 
lost cannot be regained ; " " Let industry and economy be the 
habits of your lives ;" " Lay by something for a rainy day." 
These mottoes were reminders and teachers to his work peo- 
ple, as the expense book reminds and teaches a boy or girl. 
They reformed the habits of some employees by causing them 
to reflect. Getting a good idea into their heads from one of 
them, changed the current of their lives. 

The expense book is an idea, and it suggests an idea to the 
owner. Nor is it an ephemeral idea. It takes possession of 
the mind for life. It comes to stay. It 'speaks of character, 
— how to make or mar it, It lures to virtue and hinders vice. 

Many persons, young and old, think of education as belong- 
ing only to the schools. This is a grave mistake. If the school 
alone can give culture, such men as Henry Clay and Abraham 
Lincoln never would have been known, for their best teachers 
were outside the schoolroom. Scores and hundreds of scholars, 
even, have become such and owe their claims to distinction to 
the culture of business, supplemented by the discipline of lei- 
sure moments devoted to reading or study. William B. Spooner, 
one of the most accomplished and honored merchants Boston 
ever had, never went to an academy after he was sixteen. Yet 
he became one of the most intelligent, and even gifted, men of 
New England. Business was a school to which he went every 
day, never absent, nor tardy. He early determined to make it 
more than a college curriculum to himself ; and he did achieve 
through it the highest elements of manhood, which were of 
more value to him and the world than his large fortune that 
followed as a matter of course. The writer once called at Mr. 
Spooner's office, when the latter showed him three elaborate 
reports which he had prepared for that week. One of them 
was to be presented to the Board of Trade, of which he was 
president ; another to the directors of a bank, of which he was 
also president ; and the third to a benevolent society, whose 
president he was, also. He prepared all such papers with as 
much ability as a college graduate ; and business did it. True, 
he improved his leisure moments, which were few, in reading 
and attending lectures ; and this, without doubt, had its 
decided influence in his rise and progress. But, after all, his 
business was his school, and here his powers were developed 
and trained. A business run by industry, tact, honesty, per- 



650 LEADERS OF MEN. 

severance, and philanthropy will make a noble man of the 
proprietor in any age and anywhere. Webster defines educa- 
tion to be "that series of instruction and discipline which is 
intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, 
and the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for useful- 
ness in their future stations." Hence, there may be education 
without the schoolroom. It is possible for a youth to be more 
truly educated out of college than in it. Abraham Lincoln 
was better educated than half the graduates of Harvard and 
Yale. Proof of this is found in the fact that he was fitted for 
"usefulness in his station.'' The farm, shop, and warehouse 
teach eminently practical lessons. They teach much even 
about science and art. The successful man of business knows 
more about philosophy, mathematics, and psychology, after he 
has amassed a fortune, than he did before. Experience is a good 
schoolmaster. When Edison had wrought his first invention, 
he had acquired ability to bring out a half dozen others. The 
discipline of one year's business enables a man to do better 
work next year. He is more of a man at the close of a year's 
work if he has been true to himself, ffis mind is constantly 
on the alert to discover the reason of things, and so he is con- 
stantly improving and acquiring power. When Schiller was 
a boy, the inquisitive characteristic of his mind in manhood 
was foreshadowed as follows : during a terrific thunder shower 
his father missed him, and ran out of doors to learn his where- 
abouts, when he discovered him perched in the top of a tree 
which the storm was rocking like a cradle. Much frightened 
at the peril of the boy, the father called out, "What are you 
there for?" Promptly the answer came back, "I want to see 
where the lightning comes from." The lad had a reason for 
being there, and a good one, too. 

The inquiring mind which led him to ascertain where 
lightning comes from was the secret of his manhood's suc- 
cess ; and the same would have been true of him had he been 
a merchant instead of a scholar. 

The late Hon. William E. Dodge, who was known through- 
out our land as a wealthy merchant and Christian philan- 
thropist, derived all the advantage he ever had from schools 
before he was fifteen years of age. At that age his distinc- 
tively business life began in New York city, — a school that 
was in session as long as he lived. Like Mr. Spooner, he 



THE LEDGER OF ECONOMY. 651 

determined that manhood should stand for more than wealth 
with him, — that everything about his time and business 
should contribute strength to his personal character. Conse- 
quently, his business was his university. In it he had his 
daily drill. Both his head and heart were disciplined by the 
duties of his warehouse. The standard he set up made 
industry, tact, honesty, and economy absolutely indispensable. 
He grew mentally and morally here. It was public school 
and Sunday school together, exerting a powerful influence 
upon his life. Mr. Dodge's career illustrates what an Eng- 
lish journal recently said : " There can be no question nowa- 
days that application to work, absorption in affairs, contact 
with men, and all the stress which business imposes on us, 
gives a noble training to the intellect, and splendid oppor- 
tunity for discipline of character. The perpetual call on a 
man's readiness, self-control, and vigor which business makes, 
the constant appeal to the intellect, the stress upon the will, 
the necessity for rapid and responsible exercise of judgment, 
— all constitute a high culture." Hence the most successful 
men have been those who began the world in their shirt sleeves. 
James Harper, founder of the publishing house known as 
Harper Brothers, of New York, began his business life in 
that city at fifteen years of age. He began in a printing 
office in Franklin square. He commenced with the resolu- 
tion to make the most out of the business possible, and, by 
doing that, to make the most of himself. He applied himself 
so closely to his work, declining to engage in pleasures, which 
others sought, as to draw down upon himself the ridicule of 
his companions. They laughed at his clothes, his awkward 
gait, and his large and homely shoes. Finally, one day, a 
fellow workman said to him, "Give us your card.'' Forget- 
ting himself for a moment, Harper kicked the young scamp 
downstairs, exclaiming, " That is my card ; take it !" In five 
minutes he was very sorry for the act and made an apology, 
adding, " When I get to doing business for myself, I will let 
you have work." In thirty years Harper was a wealthy pub- 
lisher, and mayor of the city, and among his employees was 
the scapegrace whom he kicked downstairs. The latter came 
to him in a miserable plight, and he gave him a job to keep 
him from starving. It is one thing to make business a school, 
but quite another thing to make it the road to ruin. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

JAMES JEROME HILL. 

WHERE OPPORTUNITY LIES BORN .IN CANADA — ANCESTRAL STOCK 

- HOW EDUCATED FROM COUNTY CLERK TO RAILROAD PRESIDENT ■ 

REORGANIZATION OF THE ST. PAUL AND PACIFIC RAILROAD TRANSFOR- 
MATION OF THE NORTHWEST FORTUNE FAIRLY EARNED THE GREAT 

NORTHERN OF TO-DAY HIS METHODS THE TRAINING OF YOUNG MEN 

MR. HILL A MANY-SIDED MAN HIS HOME AT ST. PAUL INTEREST 

IN AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS PHILANTHROPIES — SOMETHING OF HIS PER- 
SONAL ACHIEVEMENTS. VICTORY IN DEFEAT. 



The railroad interests in this country are not the greatest, 
after all. The agricultural interests are most important. 
They represent one half the population of 
the United States, one half the capital, and 
about all the patriotism, religion, and feel- 
ing there is. 

The country rules the cities. I should be 
sorry to see the time come when the city 
interests controlled the country. At present 
they do not. Whenever a situation comes 
up where the integrity of the country is at 
stake, the agricultural interests rise up in a 
body and sweep the obstacle aside. It is the 
man who owns the land, the area upon which we live, who is 
the strongest factor in affairs, and he is bound to continue so. 
He it is who possesses all the potential qualities that produce 
success anywhere, and safeguards the common interests of 
our country. 





^C 



T AMES JEROME HILL, president of the Great Northern 
Railroad, is, in many respects, the most interesting of all 
the captains of industry who are now at the head of 
affairs in this country. He was born in Guelph, Wel- 
lington county, Canada, in 1838, and is therefore .about sixty- 



JAMES JEROME HILL. 653 

four years of age. On his father's side he is descended from 
sturdy Irish stock, while from his Scotch mother he inherited 
the noble traits of the Dunbar line. He is a typical John 
Bull in his build, being short, square, and powerful. His 
head is massive, his features are large, his hair is heavy, and 
his manner calm, but alert. He is always closely watchful, 
and under ordinary circumstances bland. 

Unlike most American millionaires, Mr. Hill was ham- 
pered in the task of self-creation by a thorough education. 
Of a dreamy temperament as a child, he preferred a book and 
the woods to the play of other boys. For such a nature there 
was, at that time, no opening but the ministry or medicine. 
To fit him for the latter profession his parents sent him to the 
Rockwood Academy, where he received a thorough ground- 
ing in mathematics, Latin, and the sciences, and acquired 
that thirst for knowledge which has characterized his whole 
life. 

At the age of fifteen his fathers death threw him upon his 
own resources, and he was obliged to abandon his coveted 
profession and to seek employment in a country store. When 
about eighteen he came to St. Paul, then a straggling village 
on the hem of civilization, and secured employment as ship- 
ping clerk in the office of the Dubuque and St. Paul Packet 
Company. At that time the Mississippi offered almost the 
only opportunity for the study of problems of transportation, 
and to this he devoted his attention. He successively enlarged 
the scope of his activity, to include the sale of fuel, and the 
agencies for the Northwestern Packing Company and the St. 
Paul and Pacific Railroad. He was the first to bring coal to 
St. Paul, and he opened the first communication between St. 
Paul and Winnipeg, then Fort Gary. The latter was accom- 
plished in 1872, when he consolidated his interests with 
Norman W. Kittson, of the Hudson Bay Company, who was 
then operating steamboats between Moorhead and Winnipeg 
— thus gradually reaching out. 

He next undertook the reorganization in detail of the St. 
Paul and Pacific Railroad. When that sickly infant crept 
haltingly out upon the trackless prairies to die, Mr. Hill was 
the only one to see in it promise of life. The road then con- 
sisted of eighty miles of indifferent construction extending 
from St. Paul to St. Cloud, two hundred and sixteen miles 



654 LEADERS OF MEN. 

from St. Paul to Breckenridge, and in the neighborhood of 
another hundred miles of track not connected with either of 
these lines. 

In addition to being $33,000,000 in debt, the road was 
utterly discredited on both continents. Mr. Hill persuaded 
Mr. Donald Smith and Mr. George Stephen to undertake, with 
him, its purchase and reorganization. In 1879 the transaction 
was completed, and the road was reincorporated under the 
name of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railroad. Mr. 
George Stephen, now Lord Mount-Stephen, was the first presi- 
dent, and Mr. Hill the general manager. Mr. Hill was after- 
ward elected vice-president, and in 1883 he became president, 
which position he still holds. Since that time his achieve- 
ment has been without parallel in the history of the railroad 
world. He has built and equipped a system of G.000 miles — 
with the exception of the original 400 miles — entirely with- 
out state or government land-grant or subsidy ; at a capitali- 
zation in stocks and bonds of about 830,000 a mile, and at the 
rate of nearly a mile a day for every day of his control. 
While other transcontinental roads have collapsed and gone 
into the hands of receivers, the Great Northern has never 
once defaulted the interest on its bonds or passed a dividend. 

Figures give no adequate idea of the economic significance 
of such an artery of commerce. Because James J. Hill con- 
ceived and successfully carried out his project, it may be that 
men and women who never even heard of the United States, 
much less of the Great Northern Railroad, have been saved 
from death by starvation. It may be that sometime the frui- 
tion of the idea born in the mind of this railroad man will 
serve to avert a nation's famine. The opening and develop- 
ing of the great wheat raising states of the Northwest have 
had their part in determining the question of war or peace, and 
will have again. It has promoted ententes cordiales. It has 
shared, with blood ties and diplomacy as a factor, in the 
relations of this country with Great Britain, and consequently 
the relations of Great Britain with other nations. " Wheat 
Across the Sea"' may be equally potent with " Hands Across 
the Sea." Each of the 520,000,000 bread eaters of the world is 
a shareholder in the Great Northern Railroad. For twenty 
cents the Minnesota farmer may send a bushel of wheat or its 
equivalent in bread to Western Europe. 



JAMES JEROME HILL. G55 

When Mr. Hill first mooted the project of a railroad from 
Paget sound to the Great La£e waterway, passing through 
what was virtually "An Undiscovered Country," he had to 
face the knowledge that his road would parallel and run 
between, at no tremendous distances in this big continent, two 
already existing lines, neither of which had proved successful. 
The Northern Pacific had been constructed at enormous cost, 
with the assistance of the Federal Government, and its record 
had been a series of failures. The Canadian Pacific had had 
behind it the resources of the British Empire ; to build it, half 
a continent had been put in pawn. Wise men pointed these 
things out to Mr. Hill. They said : "Even if he can build 
two thousand miles of railroad through new country, without 
governmental aid or subsidy, cui bono ? What doth it profit 
a man if he build a whole railroad and lose his yearly divi- 
dends ? " But Mr. Hill saw with a clearer vision. He went 
ahead with that confidence which is possessed only by great 
men and fools. Steadily, inch by inch, rod by rod, mile by 
mile, the shining rails stretched westward through "the land 
of sky-blue water," passing innumerable sparkling Minnesota 
lakes, skirting one, bridging another, pushing on through 
forests and natural parkways, crossing the line into the newer 
Dakota, chasing the limpid waters of the Red river, and 
plunging into the trackless ocean prairie — direct, almost, as 
the crow flies, across the billowy fields to the confines of 
another state ; running beside the turbid Missouri, bombard- 
ing and overcoming the Rockies, shimmering through canon, 
diving through tunnel, climbing over trestle, ever westward, 
until at last they rested by the waters of the Pacific. Purely 
as a matter of construction, it was a gigantic feat, rapidly, 
safely, and cleanly accomplished. Then came the rub — the 
material but no less important question, from every point of 
view, of making it pay ; and another phase of Mr. Hill's gen- 
ius was called into requisition. That he succeeded is a matter 
of railroad history. To the knowledge of a man who knows 
his business to the minutest detail, the determination of one 
who will not be defeated, the daring of a pioneer, Mr. Hill 
must have added an instinctive perception. which bordered on 
the gift of prophecy. 

Following a railroad come population, trade, civilization. 
A railroad, even through unarable country, brings some set 



G5G LEADERS OF MEN. 

tiers along its line ; a railroad, however poorly managed, 
causes some movement of trade. How much more is this true 
of a pioneer road through a country every mile of which is pos- 
sible of settlement, and great tracts of which are as fertile as 
any on earth ! Following the track layers come the settlers. 
Following the settlers come the hamlets, villages, towns, cit- 
ies, the mills, factories, and all the concomitants of trade. 
The building of the depot causes the construction of the school- 
house, and the upraising of the church spires to the sky. It 
is hardly possible to overestimate the effect of the construc- 
tion of the Great Northern upon the development, physical 
and sociological, of a great part of our Northwest. The 
shriek of the locomotive whistle evoked the spirit of progress. 
Village and town sprang up along the line. Dwellings and 
granaries dotted the prairies. Hundreds of thousands of acres 
of previously non-productive land were put under cultivation. 
Desolate prairies began to bloom. The grain elevator, like a 
lighthouse in a yellow sea, uplifted itself above the fields of 
waving wheat. 

That there should have come an outlet for these magnifi- 
cent possibilities seems now almost inevitable ; but in this 
case the credit must go to James J. Hill. The state of Minne- 
sota alone produces, approximately, about SO, 000, 000 bushels 
of wheat, or about one thirty-seventh of the total production 
of the world. Of this she is able to export two thirds. Of the 
Dakotas, not having begun to reach their limit of productive- 
ness, North Dakota raised, in 1898, 55,000,000 bushels, and South 
Dakota 42,000,000. Oregon produced 24,000,000 bushels. The 
modern farming methods in the Northwest challenge the 
admiration of the world. Steam and electricity are made to 
serve the farmer's purpose. He plows, reaps, thrashes by 
machinery. He telephones from his farmhouse to his gran- 
aries. Sometimes he receives the latest grain quotations over 
a private telegraph wire in his dwelling. Often the acreage of 
his farm is expressed in the thousands, sometimes in five fig- 
ures. He comes from the poor places of the earth and finds a 
home and self-respect. He sends his products to Europe, Asia, 
Japan, even China. He furnishes a traffic that provides work 
for tens of thousands of employees of transportation lines. He 
keeps a procession of grain ships moving to the Sault Ste. 
Marie Canal, which makes the " Soo"'rank ahead of far-famed 



JAMES JEROME HILL. 657 

Suez in point of tonnage. Moreover, he is furnishing bone 
and sinew for this great country of ours which cannot be 
expressed in figures. And much of this is due to the Great 
Northern Railroad. 

Unlike other "Napoleons of Finance" and "Railway 
Kings " who have preyed upon the interests confided to their 
care, Mr. Hill has accepted no salary, profited by the ruin of 
no man's fortune, depending for his reward upon the natural 
increase in the value of his investment. While he has built 
up for himself and other shareholders of the road a constantly 
accruing fortune, he has created for the settlers along his line 
$1,000,000,000 of wealth in real property. The reduction in 
rates of transportation has given the shippers along the road 
practically $67,000,000, thus diminishing the company's rev- 
enues by that amount. 

Nevertheless, in fourteen years, from the beginning of Mr. 
Hill's stewardship to 1893, the company had paid to stock and 
shareholders between $15,000,000 and $16,000,000, while em- 
ployees had received for their share $79,000,000. Owing to its 
economy in operation, constantly increasing business and 
earning capacity, the Great Northern has made a steady 
decrease in freight rates. Last year the president suggested 
a new schedule of grain rates, which meant a reduction of 
$1,500,000 to the company. 

The Great Northern to-day comprises a system of roads 
giving in all 6,000 miles of excellent construction, extending 
in a network from Puget sound on the west to St. Paul on the 
east, from Duluth on the north to Yankton on the south. The 
headquarters is at St. Paul, where are located the general 
offices and operating staff. During the season of navigation, 
Duluth and Superior are, however, the practical terminals, 
where the road connects with its own steamers of the North- 
ern Steamship Company for Buffalo. Passengers are offered 
the perfection of travel, via the Northwest or Northland, 
two of the most luxurious steamers of the world. The restful 
journey over inland seas, varied with rivers, charming resorts, 
and locks, is attracting tourists to the full capacity of the 
boats. 

In addition to the passenger steamers, a fleet of six freight 
vessels offers formidable competition to other transcontinental 
lines. For the Great Northern has thus 2,000 miles of railroad 



658 LEADERS OF MEN. 

from the Pacific Coast, with the added 1,000 miles of cheap 
waterway, as against the 3,000 miles entirely by rail of the 
other roads. The shipping from Duluth and Superior is far 
beyond belief to the casual observer. In 1898 there were 
received at these ports 86,000,000 bushels of grain ; sawmills 
on the harbor manufactured 324,000,000 feet of lumber ; iron 
ore shipments reached 6,000,000 gross tons ; flour mills about 
the bay manufactured 2,000,000 barrels of flour. From these 
figures, and the fact that the Great Northern handles 65 per 
cent, of the business, will be seen the change which has been 
wrought in diverting traffic of the Central West from Chicago 
and other more southerly lake ports. 

As in the conception, construction, and extension of the 
road, so in his methods of operation, Mr. Hill's achievement 
is unique. He has the genius which in a military age would 
have made a Napoleon. 

He has made the road ; — he is its head, its hand, its con- 
science. He has risen through successive stages and grown 
with the road's growth. He has studied, assimilated, taught, 
— and moved on. Wherever he left a department he shed a 
system. In his rise he has carried with him a staggering 
weight of detail. He knows, every inch of the country 
through which his road runs — in its geography, topography, 
fauna, flora, minerals, water, air, population, resources, and 
portable products. He knows the road in its sleepers, rails, 
spikes, ballast, engines, shops, sidings, and stations. He 
knows exactly what pressure every part of every engine can 
endure, what work it is capable of performing, and how long 
it should last. So close a touch has he on every detail that he 
feels the slightest jar in the vast machine, and his finger falls 
instantly upon the disturbing cause. He seems omniscient 
and omnipresent, appearing unexpectedly at remote mountain 
stations, — from no one knows where, — and vanishing as mys- 
teriously as he came. 

There is no filtering of authority through vice-president, 
general manager, or chief clerk, with the consequent shift- 
ing of responsibility ; the enlightenment, reproof, or dismissal 
comes on the spot, warmed with Mr. Hill's personality. As a 
result of this close relationship between him and his 
employees, the Great Northern has been singularly free from 
the strikes, agitations, and annoyances which have beset 



JAMES JEROME HILL. 659 

other roads. The only strike of any consequence was in 
1894. It grew out of the fact that the prevailing business 
depression of 1893 had made necessary a reduction in the pay 
roll of the Great Northern Railroad Company, and this was 
brought about in part by reducing the salaries of its officers 
and the rates of pay of its employees. 

During the winter, representatives of the American Rail- 
way Union, formed in 1892, had been active in the work of 
organization on the lines of several railroads, among others 
the Great Northern. The work was conducted with great 
secrecy, and none of the officers of the company had knowl- 
edge of it. The company, for years having recognized the old 
unions, had no knowledge of complaints, or of any consider- 
able dissatisfaction on the part of its employees, who at that 
time numbered about eight thousand. 

When the cloud finally broke, there were many miscon- 
ceptions, therefore, to be cleared away ; and it was not for 
some two weeks that Mr. Hill and the strike organizers came 
to understand each other. When they did the whole trouble 
was promptly and finally settled by arbitration. Through 
the whole incident Mr. Hill's was the guiding mind in every 
detail, and his clear head, tact, firmness, and fairness were 
successful in bringing to a happy issue a matter which might 
have had permansntly unfortunate results in the hands of a 
man of less generous mould. 

In connection with the general offices, there has been 
established a school of railroading, where young men are 
given a thorough knowledge of every department. When a 
new branch road is organized, or a department is created, the 
man needed for its head is immediately forthcoming ; for at 
the same time Mr. Hill foresaw the future need he foresaw 
the man for the place, and began to train the boy. The motto 
of the Great Northern road should be, " The child is father to 
the man " ; for Mr. Hill believes that strength and swiftness 
are in the feet of young men. His son, James N. Hill, is pres- 
ident of the Spokane & Northern Division, and third vice-pres- 
ident of the general system. His son, Louis. Hill, is vice-pres- 
ident of the Eastern Minnesota Division. Both are young men 
of great promise, who have served their apprenticeship in every 
branch of railroading ; and upon them Mr. Hill is gradually 
unloading the enormous burden which he has carried so long. 



600 LEADERS OF MEN. 

During those years of apprenticeship in the steamboat 
office he was preparing himself to fill in the canvas which 
then contained but the sketchy outlines drawn by his imag- 
ination. Days filled with labor were succeeded by nights of 
unremitting study. The subjects devoured were so far apart 
in interest, so abstruse and apparently impractical in applica- 
tion, that nothing but the preparation of an encyclopaedia 
would seem to justify his selection. This omnivorous appetite 
for reading, joined to a phenomenal memory, makes his learn- 
ing prodigious. Question him on almost any subject and you 
are overwhelmed by a steady flow of information, detail, sta- 
tistics, until the finite mind reels. No man is so versed in his 
own specialty that Mr. Hill cannot teach him something 
therein. This course of study was to prepare him not only 
for a successful business career, but also to provide resources 
of enjoyment for his dearly-bought leisure. He may, like 
Carlyle, be described as a sledge hammer with an a?olian- 
harp attachment ; for, while his knotted muscles are batter- 
ing away for the world's commerce, his delicately strung 
sensibilities never fail to give answering music to each wan- 
dering wind of beauty or fancy. He is essentially domestic 
and lives amid his regal surroundings a life of rugged sim- 
plicity. 

Mrs. Hill, who was Miss Mary Mahegan, is a woman of 
beautiful face and more beautiful character, and is universally 
beloved. She possesses a rare combination of quiet humor, tact 
and executive ability. To these qualities, and the consequent, 
thrift, discipline, and comfort in their domestic affairs, Mr. 
Hill ascribes no small measure of his success in life. A fam- 
ily of nine interesting and gifted children have grown up 
about them. To each has been given the best preparation 
which America offers educationally to fit them for the wide 
opportunities of their lives. 

Several years ago Mr. Hill built in St. Paul one of the hand- 
somest houses in America. It is baronial in style, massively 
built of brownstone, and contains every interior perfection 
known to science. With his characteristic love of detail he 
spent a fortune on plumbing, heating, lighting, and ventila- 
tion. The interior finish is simple and rich as the exterior. 
The house is filled with the rarest and costliest of art treasures, 
tapestries, rugs, vases, wood-carving, antique furniture ; all 



JAMES JEROME HILL. 6G1 

are of the choicest selection and of quiet taste. His art gallery 
ranks second or third among the private collections of the 
United States. He has a fondness for French art, and among 
the gems are some of the best specimens of the modern paint- 
ing of that country. Some of the notable ones are Corot's 
"Biblis," Ribot's ''Descent from the Cross," Diaz's "Storm," 
Rousseau's " Mont Jean de Paris." Added to these are some of 
the masterpieces of Millet, Delacroix, Deschamps, Troyon, 
Bouguereau, Henner, Laurens, and Jules Breton. Of every 
picture Mr. Hill will give you the conception, the technical and 
artistic value, as no one but a painter can do, as well as every 
fact of interest concerning each artist. His adeptness as an 
art critic is equaled only by his skill as a lapidary ; he has 
one of the choicest private collections of jewels in America, 
and can detect at a touch any flaw, however obscure. These 
jewels he collects for the pleasure he takes in their perfection, 
as the members of his family seldom wear them. All these 
treasures of their superb home Mr. and Mrs. Hill enjoy and 
share without ostentation or vanity — a constant object lesson 
and benignant influence to those about them. 

One of Mr. Hill's dearest ambitions was to be a soldier, 
and it was a bitter blow at the outbreak of the rebellion that, 
owing to a defect in his vision, he was not accepted for serv- 
ice. Upon this fact, doubtless, his whole career hinged. In 
hardships and hairbreadth escapes, traveling by dog sledge 
and on foot, he sought to forget this disappointment in fight- 
ing his country's battles against wilderness, desert, and 
mountain. 

Mr. Hill's order of intellect does not permit him a recrea- 
tion that is purposeless ; every pastime develops into a 
science. Thus his farming, which he began as a relaxation, 
has developed an experimental station. His North Oaks 
farm, within easy driving distance of St. Paul, contains 5,500 
acres, inclosed by a single fence. The land is wooded or 
under cultivation, and seven* lakes are included within its 
limits. The buildings are unpretentious and simple, like 
those of the surrounding farms, but so numerous as to form a 
good sized village. They consist of a house for the family, 
another for the workmen, horse and cow stables, pigsties, 
hay-barns, extensive greenhouses, a marble-fitted and refrig- 
erated dairy, a bowling alley and boathouse. In the interior 



662 LEADERS OF MEN. 

arrangement, the highest degree of sanitation and comfort is 
secured. Here he has collected, from all parts of the world, 
the best breeds of horses and cattle, whose feeding, training, 
and marketing he personalty oversees to the minutest detail. 
He has a strong love for horses, and seldom sells any of those 
he has raised. Upon an island in the largest lake he is pre- 
serving a herd of elk. In another pasture he has a large herd 
of buffalo — among the last of their vanishing race. 

Near Crookston, Minn., he has a grain-farm of 35,000 
acres. This is carried on in the same manner as the large 
farms in Dakota, with all externals of the plainest, but with 
the latest labor-saving machinery. 

In his farming, as in his home life, Mr. Hill's aim is to be a 
helpful neighbor ; the result of all his experiments he shares 
with those about him. The value of his agricultural and 
stock-raising knowledge to the settlers along the line of his 
road is, in consequence, incalculable. He is constantly giv- 
ing talks and addresses at state and county fairs, stock- 
grower's conventions, and before legislatures. It is largely 
through his influence that the Red River Valley settlers have 
been induced to take up diversified farming instead of 
depending, as formerly, upon wheat alone ; and, in conse- 
quence, having to face starvation with every crop failure. In 
this, as in all his advocated reforms, he does not stop with 
" talk." Following his instruction, he has scattered along the 
line of his road, for free use of the farmers, 500 blooded bulls 
and 3,500 boars. The result of this foresight has been a com- 
plete transformation of the "scrub" stock of the Northwest. 

One of Mr. Hill's most notable philanthropies is the St. 
Paul Theological Seminary, a school of preparation for the 
priesthood, dedicated in 1895. Unlike most philanthropists, 
and with characteristic modesty, Mr. Hill refuses to allow this 
institution to bear his name, but gives that honor to the city 
of his residence. The buildings, erected through the gift of 
$500,000, are six severely handsome structures of pressed brick 
built in the English university form of a quadrangle. The 
site, upon the high, wooded bluff of the Mississippi river, 
offers a quiet retreat, perfectly fitted for study and thought. 
No expense was spared in internal equipment, affording an 
opportunity for comfort, health, and the highest culture. 
Each student is provided with a study and sleeping room. 



JAMES JEROME HILL. 663 

with access to the bath. A gymnasium gives opportunity for 
physical development, so often overlooked in such institu- 
tions. The seminary offers unrivaled opportunities for theo- 
logical research, as well as a broad culture in science and 
literature, not usually joined to a theological course. While 
the seminary is intended principally for the ecclesiastical 
province of St. Paul, and draws its students from the dioceses 
comprised in this province, still it is open to students of all 
sections of the country, and from the first its fullest capacity 
has been tested. The Right Reverend Monsignor Caillet, a 
pioneer in Minnesota religious life, was its first rector. On 
his death the Very Reverend Patrick R. Heffron, a young 
man of unusual attainments and brilliancy, became its rector. 

Two Protestant colleges in the environs of St. Paul owe, 
in a large measure, their prolonged activity to Mr. Hill's gen- 
erosity — Macalester, a Presbyterian institution, and Ham- 
line, of the Methodist denomination. Indeed, scarcely a 
church of St. Paul has appealed to Mr. Hill in vain in its 
financial crises ; and many towns along the lines of his road 
show with pride some church, educational, or philanthropic 
institution which he has built or helped to build. 

In Mr. Hill we have the seer, with all the nineteenth cen- 
tury improvements. In him the highest imagination is yoked 
to the lowliest common sense ; the vision is followed by the 
deed. Mountains, seas, continents, wars, and empires are 
pawns in his game ; but each spike which holds his rails is 
considered as carefully as though it were to serve for the axis 
of the universe. 

His imagination is not of the lawless order which runs riot 
to no purpose ; it is the masterful architect, which directs his 
nimble intellect as it builds. His mind's eye is telescopic, 
looking far beyond the range of ordinary human vision, and 
seeing things not so much as they are, but rather as they may 
be. He saw the great Northwest, lying imprisoned like the 
prince in the Arabian Nights, half man and half marble, and 
has set it free in its own proper shape, with all its possibilities 
restored. His faith, moving mountains, both literally and 
figuratively, has led the world's superfluous population into 
the wilderness, to behold and to work miracles. They have 
felled the forests, tilled the soil, dug mines, built houses, 
banks, churches, and colleges, under the delusion that these 



664 LEADERS OF MEN. 

enterprises were of their own suggestion • but, like Alice and 
the red chessman in " Wonderland," they are merely acting 
a part in the White King's dream. 

THE VICTORY IN DEFEAT. 

EARLY a hundred thousand Romans are assembled in 
the Colosseum to see the hated Christians struggle for 
their lives with the wild beasts of the amphitheater. 
The grand spectacle is preceded by a duel between two rival 
gladiators, trained to fight to the death to amuse the populace. 
When a gladiator hit his adversary in such contests, he would 
say "Hoc habet" (He has it), and look up to see whether he 
should kill or spare. If the people held their thumbs up, the 
victim would be left to recover ; if down, he was to die. If he 
showed the least reluctance in presenting his throat for the 
death blow, there would rise a scornful shout : "Recipe fer- 
ritin " ( Receive the steel). Prominent persons would sometimes 
go into the arena and watch the death agonies of the van- 
quished, or taste the warm blood of some brave hero. 

The two rival gladiators, as they entered, had shouted to 
the emperor : " Ave, Ccesar, morituri te salutant " ( Hail, Csesar, 
those about to die salute thee). Then in mortal strife they 
fought long and desperately, their faces wet with perspiration 
and dark with the dust of the arena. Suddenly an aged stran- 
ger in the audience leaps over the railing, and, standing bare- 
headed and barefoot between the contestants, bids them stay 
their hands. A hissing sound comes from the vast audience, 
like steam issuing from a geyser, followed by calls of "Back, 
back, old man." But the gray-haired hermit stands like a 
statue. "Cut him down, cut him down," roar the spectators, 
and the gladiators strike the would-be peacemaker to earth, 
and fight over his dead body. 

But what of it ? What is the life of a poor old hermit com- 
pared with the thousands who have met their deaths in that 
vast arena ? The unknown man died, indeed, but his death 
brought Rome to her senses, and no more gladiatorial contests 
disgraced the Colosseum, while in every province of the 
empire the custom was utterly abolished, to be revived no 
more. The vast rum stands to-day a monument to the victory 
in the hermit's defeat. 




JAMES J. HILL, 



THE VICTORY IN DEFEAT. 667 

No man fails who does his best, for, if the critical world 
ignore him, his labor is weighed in the scales of Omniscient 
Justice. As there is no effect without cause, no loss of energy 
in the world, so conscientious persistence cannot fail of its 
ultimate reward. 

One of the first lessons of life is to learn how to get victory 
out of defeat. It takes courage and stamina, when mortified 
and embarrassed by humiliating disaster, to seek in the wreck 
or ruins the elements of future conquest. Yet this measures 
the difference between those who succeed and those who fail. 
You cannot measure a man by his failures. You must know 
what use he makes of them. What did they mean to him ? 
What did he get out of them ? 

I always watch with great interest a young man's first 
failure. It is the index of his life, the measure of his success- 
power. The mere fact of his failure does not interest me 
much ; but how did he take his defeat ? What did he do 
next ? Was he discouraged ? Did he slink out of sight ? 
Did he conclude that he had made a mistake in his calling, 
and dabble in something else ? Or did he up and at it again 
with a determination that knows no defeat ? 

" I thank God I was not made a dexterous manipulator,'" 
said Humphry Davy, " for the most important of my dis- 
coveries have been suggested to me by failures." 

" God forbid that I should do this thing, and flee away 
from them," said Judas Maccabaeus, when, with only eight 
hundred faithful men, he was urged to retire before the 
Syrian army of twenty thousand. " If our time be come, let 
us die manfully for our brethren, and let us not stain our 
honor." 

" Sore was the battle," says Miss Yonge ; "as sore as that 
waged by the three hundred at Thermopylae, and the end was 
the same. Judas and his eight hundred were not driven from 
the field, but lay dead upon it. But their work was done. 
The moral effect of such a defeat goes farther than many a 
victory. These lives, sold so clearly, were the price of free- 
dom for Judea. Judas's brothers, Jonathan and Simon, laid 
him in his father's tomb, and then ended the work that he 
had begun ; and when Simon died, the Jews, once so trodden 
on, were the most prosperous race in the East. The temple 
was raised from its ruins, and the exploits of the Maccabees 



668 LEADERS OF MEN. 

had nerved the whole people to do or die in defense of the 
holy faith of their fathers." 

After a long and desperate but vain struggle to free his 
country from the iron rule of Rome, Vercingetorix surrendered 
himself to Caesar on condition that his army should be allowed 
to return home without molestation. He was held a prisoner 
for six years, then dragged in chains over the cold stones of 
Rome to grace an imperial triumph, and killed in his dungeon 
the following night. Yet no one would think of naming any 
one else if asked who was the bravest and noblest among the 
Gallic leaders. 

"Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man," 
said Latimer, as he stood with his friend at the stake ; "we 
shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England 
as I trust shall never be put out ; *' and every word had more 
influence than would the preaching of a hundred sermons 
against the intolerance of the age. So incensed did the people 
become that, besides Cranmer, burned two years later, very 
few others were sacrificed ; and of these it is said that they 
were secretly tried and burned at night, surrounded by sol- 
diers, for fear of riots by the populace enraged at such injus- 
tice and cruelty. 

There is something grand and inspiring in a young man 
who fails squarely after doing his level best, and then enters 
the contest again and again with undaunted courage and 
redoubled energy. I have no fears for the youth who is not 
disheartened at failure. 

"It is defeat," says Henry Ward Beecher, " that turns 
bone to flint, and gristle to muscle, and makes men invincible, 
and formed those heroic natures that are now in ascendency 
in the world. Do not, then, be afraid of defeat. You are 
never so near to victory as when defeated in a good cause." 

Failure becomes the final test of persistence and of an iron 
will. It either crushes a life, or solidifies it. The wounded 
oyster mends his shell with pearl. 

"Failure is, in a sense," says Keats, "the highway to 
success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us 
to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experi- 
ence points out some form of error which we shall afterward 
carefully avoid." 

"We mount to heaven," says A. B. Alcott, "mostly on 



THE VICTORY IN DEFEAT. 660 

the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding our failures were 
successes." 

No man is a failure who is upright and true. No cause is 
a failure which is in the right. There is but one failure, and 
that is not to be true to the best that in us. 

Of what avail would it be for a man without a kingdom, 
without an army, to oppose the most powerful monarch of 
Europe ? William the Silent was a learned philosopher, an 
accomplished linguist, of good family and great wealth, and 
a lover of peace. Yet, as a mere citizen of little Holland, on 
what could he rely should he attempt to wage war against 
overwhelming odds, except the justice of his cause and the 
weight of his character ? 

Philip II. was a nephew of the emperor of Germany, hus- 
band of the queen of England, and ruler in his own right of 
Spain, Holland. Belgium, and most of Italy, Oran. Tunis, the 
CapeYerde, Canary, and Philippine Islands, the Antilles, Mex- 
ico, and Peru. While his neighbors were weakened by quar- 
rels, his resources were unrivaled. His cause was supported 
by the arms, wealth, glory, genius, and religion of Europe. 

Philip determined to establish the Inquisition in the Neth- 
erlands, and William resolved to consecrate himself to the 
defense of the liberties of his country. 

The struggle was prodigious. At last William died, but 
Philip was not a victor. Holland, indeed, was without a 
leader, but the vast Spanish monarchy was tottering to its 
fall. From the beginning of the contest, "the figure of the 
king becomes smaller and smaller until it finally disappears, 
while that of the Prince of Orange grows and grows, until it 
becomes the most glorious figure of the century." Proscribed, 
impoverished, calumniated, surrounded by assassins, often a 
fugitive, and finally a lifeless lump of clay, William had 
maintained throughout a solidity of character against which 
beat in vain the waves of corrupt wealth and injustice. Char- 
acter is power. 

Raleigh failed, but he left a name ever to be linked with 
brave effort and noble character. Kossuth did not succeed, 
but his lofty career, his burning words, and his ideal fidelity 
will move men for good as long as time shall last. O'Connell 
did not win his. cause, but he did achieve enduring fame as an 
orator, patriot, and apostle of liberty. 



670 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Viewed in this light, the retreat of Xenophon's Ten Thou- 
sand outshines the conquests of Alexander ; and the retreat of 
Sir John Moore to Corunna was as great as the victories of 
Wellington. 

" Gentlemen, apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney, he 
can make anything," said the widow of General Greene, when 
some officers who had served under her husband in the Revo- 
lution said it was impossible to extend the culture of cotton, 
on account of the trouble and expense of separating the seed 
from the fiber. Eli Whitney had gone from his Massachu- 
setts home, in 1792, to teach in Georgia. 

Mrs. Greene, at whose house he was visiting, introduced 
Mr. Whitney to the officers and some planter guests, and 
recommended him as a young man of great integrity and 
ingenuity. The young teacher said that he had never seen 
cotton or cotton seed, but promised to see what he could do. 
He found a little in Savannah, and shut himself up in a base- 
ment to experiment. He had to make his own tools, and even 
draw his wire, as none could then be bought in Savannah. 
He hammered and tinkered all winter, but at last his machine 
was successful. 

Mr. Miller, who had recently married Mrs. Greene, offered 
to become an equal partner with Mr. Whitney, furnishing 
funds for perfecting, patenting, and making the machines. 
People came to see the wonderful device, but Mr. Miller 
refused to show it, as it was not yet patented. 

Some of the visitors broke open the building by night and 
carried off the gin. Soon the partners found that machines 
that infringed upon theirs were upon the market. Mr. Whit- 
ney established a manufactory in New Haven, but was ham- 
pered greatly by a long sickness, while suits to defend the 
patent swallowed all the money of the partners. Again Whit- 
ney was sick, and had but just recovered when his manufac. 
tory burned, with all his machines and papers, leaving him 
bankrupt. Just then came the news that British manufac- 
turers rejected cotton cleaned by his machine, saying that the 
process was injurious. He went to England and at last over- 
came this prejudice, when his cotton gin was again in demand. 
A suit against an infringer was decided against him by a 
Georgia jury, although the judge charged in his favor. The 
market was flooded with infringements. Not until 1807, the 



THE VICTORY IX DEFEAT. 671 

last year of his patent, was a suit decided in his favor, Judge 
Johnson saying : — 

"The whole interior of the Southern states was languish- 
ing and its inhabitants 'emigrating for want of some object to 
engage their attention and employ their industry, when the 
invention of this machine at once opened views to them which 
set the whole country in active motion. From childhood to 
age, it has presented to us a lucrative employment. Individ- 
uals who were depressed with poverty and sunk in idleness 
have suddenly risen to wealth and respectability. Our debts 
have been paid off. Our capitals have increased, and our lands 
have trebled themselves in value. " 

Whitney was obliged to engage in another kind of busi- 
ness to gain a livelihood, on account of the injustice of his 
fellow countrymen, yet one of the world's greatest victories 
grew out of his apparent defeat. Instead of a pound of 
cleaned cotton as the result of a day's work of an able-bodied 
man, he had made it possible for him to clean hundreds of 
pounds. His invention increased the production of cotton in 
the South more than a thousandfold, and was worth, accord- 
ing to conservative men, more than a thousand millions of 
dollars to the United States. What an inspiration there is in 
this career for discouraged souls in life's great battle ! 

" No language," says E. P. Whipple, " can fitly express the 
meanness, the baseness, the brutality, with which the world 
has ever treated its victims of one age and boasts of them in 
the next. Dante is worshiped at that grave to which he was 
hurried by persecution. Milton in his own day was ' Mr. 
Milton, the blind adder, that spit his venom on the king's per- 
son ' ; and soon after, ' the mighty orb of song.' These absurd 
transitions from hatred to apotheosis, this recognition just at 
the moment when it becomes a mockery, sadden all intellec- 
tual history.'" 

"Even in this world," says Mrs. Stowe, "they will have 
their judgment day : and their names, which went down in the 
dust like a gallant banner trodden in the mire, shall rise again 
all glorious in the sight of nations." 

What cared Garrison or Phillips for the rotten eggs, the 
jeers and hisses in Faneuil Hall ? What did Demosthenes, 
Curran, or Disraeli care for the taunts and hisses that drove 
them from the rostrum ? They felt within the power of great- 



072 LEADERS OF MEN. 

ness, and knew that the time would come when they would 
be heard. Mortified by humiliation and roused by defeat, 
they were spurred into a grander eloquence. Those apparent 
defeats which would have silenced forever men of ordinary 
mould, only excited in these men a determination which, like 
the waters of the Hellespont, " ne'er felt retiring ebb." Who 
can estimate the world's debt to weak, deformed, and appar- 
ently defeated men, whose desperate struggles to redeem 
themselves from perpetual scorn have made them immortal ? 
It was Byron's clubfoot and shyness which caused him to 
pour forth his soul in song. It was to Bedford jail that we 
owe the finest allegory in the world. Bunyan wrote nothing 
of note before or after his twelve years' imprisonment. 

Death wins no victory over such men. Regulus might be 
destroyed bodily by cruel torture, but his spirit animated 
Rome to blot Carthage from the face of the earth. Win- 
kelried did indeed fall beneath the Austrian spears, but 
Switzerland is free. Wallace was quartered : Scotland never. 
Lincoln became the victim of an assassin, but none the less 
his work went forward. Never was martyr yet whose death 
did not advance the cause he advocated tenfold more than 
could possibly have been accomplished by his voice or pen. 

He who never failed has never half succeeded. The defeat 
at Bull Run was really the greatest victory of the Civil War, 
for it sent the cowards to the rear and the politicians home. 
It was the lightning flash in the dark night of our nation's 
peril which gave us glimpses of the weak places in our army. 
It was the mirror which showed us the faces of the political 
aspirants. 

" The angel of martyrdom is brother to the angel of vic- 
tory.*' What cared Savonarola though the pope excommuni- 
cated him because he could not bribe him ? What cared he 
for the live coals on his feet ? He would still tell the Italian 
people of their terrible sins, and he knew that though they 
should burn him at the stake, his ashes would plead for him 
and speak louder than his tongue had ever done. He shrank 
not from telling the dying Lorenzo to restore liberty to Flor- 
ence and return what he had stolen from the people, before 
he would grant him absolution. Though the prince turned 
his face to the wall, rather than purchase forgiveness on such 
terms, Savonarola was inflexible, and the monarch died 



THE VICTORY IN DEFEAT. 673 

unabsolved. On the way to the scaffold the bishop said, "I 
separate thee from the Church militant and triumphant." 
Savonarola corrected him, saying, " Not triumphant, that is 
not yours to do." 

"Heaven is probably a place for those who have failed on 
earth. The world will be blind indeed, if it does not reckon 
among its great ones such martyrs as miss the palms but not 
the pains of martyrdom, heroes without laurels and conquer- 
ors without the jubilations of triumph." 

Uninterrupted successes at the beginning of a career are 
dangerous. Beware of the first great triumph. It may prove 
a failure. Man} r a man has been ruined by overconfidence, 
born of his first victory. The mountain oak, tossed and 
swayed in the tempest until its proud top sweeps the earth, is 
all the stronger for its hundred battles with the elements if it 
only straighten up again. The danger is not in a fall, but in 
failing to rise. All the great work of the world has been accom- 
plished by courage, and the world's greatest victories have 
been born of defeat. Every blessing that we enjoy — personal 
security, individual liberty, and constitutional freedom — has 
been obtained through long apprenticeships of evil. The right 
of existing as a nation has only been accomplished through 
ages of wars and horrors. It required four centuries of mar- 
tyrdom to establish Christianity, and a century of civil wars 
to introduce the Reformation. 

" There are some whom the lightning of fortune blasts, 
only to render holy," says Bulwer. " Amidst all that humbles 
and scathes — amidst all that shatters from their life its ver- 
dure, smites to the dust the pomp and summit of their pride, 
and in the very heart of existence writeth a sudden and 
strange defeature, they stand erect — riven, not uprooted, a 
monument less of pity than of awe ! There are some who 
pass through the lazar house of misery with a step more august 
than a Caesar's in his hall. The very things which, seen alone, 
are despicable and vile, associated with them become almost 
venerable and divine ; and one ray, however dim and feeble, 
of that intense holiness which, in the infant God, shed maj- 
esty over the manger and the straw, not denied to those who, 
in the depth of affliction, cherished his patient image, flings 
over the meanest localities of earth an emanation from the 
glory of Heaven!" 



674 LEADERS OF MEN. 

Even from the dreary waste and desolation of his bereave- 
ment at Fordham, the stricken soul of Edgar A. Poe blos- 
somed in those matchless flowers of funeral song, the delicately 
ethereal dirges, "Ulalume" and "Annabel Lee," which alone 
would immortalize their author. 

To know how to wring victory from defeat, and make step- 
ping stones of our stumbling-blocks, is the secret of success. 

What matters it — 

" If what shone afar so grand 
Turned to ashes in the hand ? 
On again, the virtue lies 
In the struggle, not the prize." 

Raphael died at thirty -seven, in the very flush of young 
manhood, before he had finished his "Transfiguration." Yet 
he had produced the finest picture in the world, and it was 
carried in his funeral procession, while all Rome mourned 
their great loss. 

Even the defeat of death found victorious voice in the 
unequaled requiem of Mozart. 

There is something sublime in the resolute, fixed purpose 
of suffering without complaining, which makes disappoint- 
ment often better than success. Constant success shows us 
only one side of the world ; for as it surrounds us with friends 
who tell us only of our merits, so it silences those enemies 
from whom only can we learn our defects. 

Columbus was carried home in chains, on his third voyage, 
from the world he had discovered. Although the indignant 
people remonstrated, and his friend the queen had him set 
free, persecution followed him when he again crossed the 
Atlantic westward. At the age of seventy, after the "long 
wandering woe " of this fourth and final voyage, he was glad 
to reach Spain at last. He hoped for some reward — at least, 
enough to keep soul and body together. But his appeals were 
fruitless. He lived for a few months after his return, poor, 
lonely, and stricken with a mortal disease. Even towards 
his death he was a scarcely tolerated beggar. He had to com- 
plain that his frock had been taken and sold, that he had not 
a roof of his own, and lacked wherewithal to pay his tavern 
bill. It was then that, with failing breath, he uttered the 
words, sublime in their touching simplicity, "I, a native of 



THE VICTORY IX DEFEAT. 675 

Genoa, discovered in the distant West, the continent and isles 
of India.*' He expired at Valladolid, May 20, 1506, his last 
words being, " Lord, I deliver my soul into thy hands." Thus 
Columbus died a neglected beggar, while a pickle-dealer of 
Seville, whose highest position was that of second mate of a 
vessel, gave his name to the greatest continent on the globe. 
But was the Genoese mariner a failure ? Ask more than a 
hundred millions of people who inhabit the world he found a 
wilderness. Ask the grandest republic the sun ever shone 
upon if Columbus was a failure. 

Joan of Arc was burned alive at Rouen, without even a 
remonstrance from Charles VII., who owed her his crown. 
Was the life of Joan of Arc a failure ? Ask a nation besprin- 
kled with her bronze and marble statues if the memory of the 
Maid of Orleans is not enshrined in every Frenchman's heart. 

" A heroic Wallace, quartered upon the scaffold,*' said 
Carlyle, " cannot hinder that his Scotland become, one day, a 
part of England ; but he does hinder that it become, on 
tyrannous, unfair terms, a part of it ; commands still, as with 
a god's voice, from his old Valhalla and Temple of the brave, 
that there be just, real union as of brother and brother, not a 
false and merely semblant one as of slave and master." 

Leonidas and his three hundred may perish after defend- 
ing a little mountain pass against a vast Persian army for 
three days in hand to hand conflict ; but their defeat shall 
prove a nation's victory, and they shall live in song and 
story when Xerxes and his vast horde will be remembered 
only because they were repulsed at Thermopylae and van- 
quished at Salamis and Plataea. 

When it was ascertained that the troop-laden English ship 
Birkenhead was foundering in stress of weather, the officer in 
charge of the battalion ordered his men to stand at "parade 
rest " while the boats rowed away with the women and chil- 
dren. They kept their places as the water swashed higher 
and higher around their feet, and, when it reached their waists, 
unstrapped their belts and held aloft their cartridge-boxes 
until with a wild lurch the wreck went down. Think you 
there was no victory in this apparent defeat ? Character is 
power and triumphs over physical weakness. 

" A man, true to man's grave religion," says Bulwer, " can 
no more despise a life wrecked in all else, while a hallowing 



676 LEADERS OF MEN. 

affection stands out sublime through the rents and chinks of 
fortune, than he can profane with rude mockery a temple in 
ruins — if still left there the altar." 

The exertion of all your strength of mind or body may 
result in nothing but failure in the eyes of a critical world, 
but what you have done is already weighed in the scales of 
Omniscient Justice, and can in no way avoid its legitimate 
reward. Your deed is registered — 

" In the rolls of Heaven, where it will live, 
A theme for angels when they celebrate 
The high-souled virtues which forgetful earth has witnessed." 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

CHARLES MICHAEL SCHWAB. 

ON THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS HIGHEST SALARIED 

MAN IN THE WORLD — IN THE PRIME OF LIFE BIRTHPLACE BOYHOOD 

— HOW EDUCATED BEGINS LIFE AS A CLERK IN A GROCERY STORE ■ 

STAKE-DRIVER EARLY PROMOTIONS HEAD OF STEEL WORKS AN ILLUS- 
TRATIVE ANECDOTE HOW HE WORKS SECRET OF HIS POWER INTER- 
ESTED IN YOUNG MEN HOW HE REGARDS ORGANIZED LABOR NOT A 

TYRANT. MANNERS AND DRESS. 




My success is due to the fact that in the first place I stood 
on my own feet — always relied on myself. It is really a det- 
riment to have anyone behind you. When 
you depend on yourself you know that it is 
only on your own merit that you succeed. 
Then you discover your latent powers, awake 
to your manhood, and are on your mettle to 
do your uttermost. It is a very good motto 
to depend on yourself. I am a great believer 
in self-reliant manliness, which is manhood 
in its noblest form. 

No man ever made a success of his life by 
luck, or chance, or accident. When you 
come across one of that vast majority who have failed because 
they " never had a chance," you '11 take notice that he lacks 
that indefinable, subtle something that stands for success ; 
and sometimes I 'm inclined to believe the mysterious some- 
thing is simply a capacity and a disposition for hard work. 

The rich man's son enters life's race with a handicap. Not 
only the handicap which a fortune is, because it deprives him 
of the necessity to progress and expand, but the handicap of 
never being able to appreciate what he 's got. For everything 
in life that 's worth while is ton times more worth while when 
we yearn and work and climb for it. 

The first great blessing in my life was being born poor. 
The fundamental principles that founded my character were 



678 LEADERS OF MEN. 

the lessons wrung out of early hardships, and privations, and 
self-denials. I would not give up the experience of a boyhood 
barren of luxuries and paved with obstacles for any amount 
of money. It would be like pulling the foundation out of a 
building. 

At an age when boys of to-day are petted and pampered, I 
learned the size and value of a dollar. I learned all that it 
stood for in comforts and in working principle, and I learned 
all the labor it stood for. And incidentally I realized that 
every one of those dollars that figured in my life would mean 
just so much honest labor on my part. 

Fortunately I realized, too, that the plan worked both 
ways ; that every dollar's worth of work I executed would be 
paid for in coin of the realm, whether it was overtime, whether 
it was bargained for, whether it came out of this employer's 
pocket or the next one, or, indeed, whether the present 
employer knew of it at all. 

Some employer, I knew, would pay me full value for every 
hour's work I put in, for I was stowing away, as a stock in 
trade, every moment's work, and its subsequent knowledge 
and experience. I am a hearty believer in the law of compen- 
sation. I don't believe an honest effort ever goes unrewarded, 
though sometimes the reward is a long time coming. 

There are many reasons why men are always working and 
not always succeeding. Sometimes they belong to the class 
who cultivate the appearance of working, doing anything. 
Sometimes they spend their lives working, bemoaning the 
fact that it 's all effort and no reward, and lay down the scythe 
just before the harvest ripens. 

Hope and faith and courage are just as essential to success 
as the necessary effort. Many a man has lain down just this 
side of his laurels and neither he nor the world ever knew 
how near he came to accomplishment. 

Then there are men who work conscientiously, persever- 
ingly, hopefully ; but they 're working on the wrong tack. I 
believe that such men realize they 're out of place and out of 
tune, and will never strike the harmonious chord which 
accomplishment is. But they resolve they 've got a little 
start and don't want to lose it. These men form part of the 
army that fails. 

I do not believe there is a normal man living who has not 



CHARLES MICHAEL SCHWAB. 679 

a capacity for some one line, who could not excel in that line 
if he pursued it. The first essential, in a boy's career is to 
find out what he 's fitted for, what he 's most capable of doing 
and doing with a relish. 

The second essential is to go to work and do it, no matter 
the cost, no matter the obstacles, no matter the sacrifices. 
And if he 's going to stand out among men he 's got to resolve 
to do the particular thing he 's fastened on better than any- 
one else. 

Every one's got it in him. if he'll only make up his mind 
and stick at it. None of us is born with a stop-valve on his 
powers or with a set limit to his capacities. There 's no limit 
possible to the expansion of each one of us. 

It all depends upon our will and the power of our resolu- 
tion. Our capacities expand and enlarge with exercise, just 
as the muscles of our bodies enlarge and grow strong. 

That's the way character is formed — doing calisthenic 
feats with obstacles and adversities. I tell you the hard 
knocks are the nest eggs of our fortunes. The men that are 
not made of the right stuff go under with them and are never 
heard of again. 

And there are the others who are soured and embittered 
by them, and they 're heard from eternal^. They have n't 
a good word to say for the world's plan, because when it got 
a trifle complicated it baffled them. 

Those are the men who do more harm to the youth of civ- 
ilization than its vices. Then there are those who start out, 
sometimes with bare feet and holes in their trousers, bravely 
resolving never to let circumstances crush them, never to 
harbor bitterness over defeat, but to save their energies for 
the next encounter. 

These are the men hard knocks don't hurt. They toughen 
them ; they help them get ready for the next encounter. To 
these men, it 's only a question of sufficient hardship, and 
sacrifice, and battle, to make them proof against any on- 
slaught. These are the soldiers, the victors. 

Did you ever find a successful soldier who hadn't seen a 
fight ? That 's why I say the rich man's son is born with a 
handicap, and it 's why I think the man with a million and a 
son should keep the two a long way apart. 

Heaven forbid that money should be the only thing to 



680 LEADERS OF MEN. 

strive for. Beyond a certain point of requirement, money is 
useless to the individual. A vast fortune cannot do its full 
duty in the life of one man who inherits or makes it ; it is 
destined to better the lives of hundreds. 

What satisfaction can there be in piling up vast wealth for 
the sake of wealth itself ? The only part that money plays in 
success is as a reward. Money is the standard of value. It 
is the equivalent of merit. Money is the only coin in which 
we can pay for hard work or for genius, and so it is the equiv- 
alent of accomplishment. 

But the men who reap success are not the men who aim to 
accumulate millions ; they are the men who aim to do one 
thing ; to do it better than anyone else can do it ; to take it 
up from the very beginning and push it through to the end. 
That is what makes success, and success means money. 

For my own part I am more interested in my work than 
its mere money value. Millidns of money can never give me 
the pleasure I found in learning the intricate workings of a 
steel plant. Hitting upon a new device which, when applied 
to a machine with my own fingers, had a desired effect upon 
its workings, gave me the keenest possible satisfaction. 




O the great majority of his admiring countrymen, Mr. 
Charles M. Schwab is known, chiefly, by the unimpor- 
^ tant circumstance that he draws the largest salary in 
the world. The public has a way of seizing upon trivi- 
alities like this and ignoring the solid merits that are a man's 
real title to fame. 

Suppose Mr. Schwab does receive the highest salary in the 
world — what of it ? The essential questions are, does he earn 
it ? and if so, how ? Mr. Schwab does earn it, and, moreover, 
he was earning it for a good many years before the public 
heard anything about him. When he became president of the 
Carnegie Steel Company, in February, 1897, his salary was 
fixed at fifty thousand dollars a year, with an interest in the 
business. When the company was absorbed by the United 






CHARLES MICHAEL SCHWAB. 681 

States Steel Corporation four years later, the value of that 
interest was estimated at over twenty-eight million dollars. 
That is equivalent to a salary of seven million dollars a year 
for the four years. Compared with that, the largest estimates 
of the figures opposite Mr. Schwab's name on the pay roll of 
the steel trust seem modest. This amiable, smooth-faced 
young man has done much, and is likely to do more. He is 
forty years old now — just the age of President Butler, of Co- 
lumbia, and a little younger than President Roosevelt and the 
Emperor William. He had what he himself calls the indis- 
pensable inheritance of poverty. 

Back in the mid-seventies, on almost any day when there 
was mail or a stray passenger to go, a rickety old stage might 
have been heard creaking down from the little town of 
Loretto, Penn., to the railroad station at Cresson and back, 
with a freckle-faced boy of about twelve on the driver's seat, 
— a newcomer to the quaint little mountain town. The 
freckled boy — could he jump the quarter century — would 
scarcely know the multi-millionaire, unless he could drive 
him over those four hilly miles and some one should whisper 
him into awe of his passenger. But the man remembers the 
boy, and is proud of him. After all, does it matter much to 
either of them whether it is a stagecoach at Loretto or an 
octopus in the great world that they are controlling, so long- 
as they hold the reins of power ? 

But to go back to the boy. Loretto, as every one knows, 
was the place where Demetrius Gallitzen, the prince-priest, 
kin to the present ruling house in Russia, brought, over a 
hundred years ago, the Catholic faith, to what was then an 
unknown country, and the friars of St. Francis's College still 
carry on the work he began. To them the boy went for his 
education, and learned something of engineering, which he 
liked better than anything else they taught. At eighteen he 
had finished his course, and must earn a living. He could 
find no task exactly to his liking. His people were poor, and 
he took the first thing at hand,— a clerkship in a country 
grocery at Braddock. A few months had passed, when one 
clay Mr. Jones, of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, happened 
into the store and the boy behind the counter surprised him 
by asking for a place. Mr. Jones thought a moment and 
then asked : — 



082 LEADERS OF MEN. 

" Can you drive spikes ? "* 

"I can drive anything,'" said the boy. Perhaps he was 
thinking of the weather-beaten stage at Loretto. 

'' At a dollar a day ?" 

" At any price," 

And so he began. Six dollars a week was better than two 
and a half, his grocery store stipend, and it was an opportu- 
nity. In six months he was chief of the engineering corps with 
which he had begun work. Then it was that he ceased being 
"Charlie " and became Mr. Schwab. From that time his story 
is an exceedingly simple one, — as all great things are simple. 

There were blast furnaces to be constructed, and he super- 
intended the work. The rail mill department must be 
enlarged ; he enlarged it until it had the largest output in the 
world. Competition was close, there must be economy in 
production, and he made improvements which sent the Pitts- 
burg product all over the world, and, with the late Captain 
W. R. Jones, developed the famous "•metal mixer," which 
reduced costs to a minimum. In 1887 the Homestead Steel 
works needed a new superintendent, and Mr. Schwab took 
the place. Reconstruction was needed, and he made the plant 
the largest of its sort in the world. The United States wanted 
armor plate, and after long experiment and over many obsta- 
cles, he gave it to them. Captain Jones died in 1889, and Mr. 
Schwab went back to the Edgar Thomson Works as superin- 
tendent, only to take control of both the Homestead and 
Thomson works in -1892. 

The following anecdote illustrates his character : After, he 
had risen to be general manager of the Carnegie Steel Com- 
pany, an English manufacturer offered him more than fifty 
thousand dollars a year to be manager of his factory. Mr. 
Schwab refused, but did not tell Mr. Carnegie. Some months 
later Mr. Carnegie heard of it, and took pains to say to Mr. 
Schwab "that he must not think of it." 

" It is not what I want," he replied. 

" What is it you do want ?" asked Mr. Carnegie. 

" To be a partner in your company," said Mr. Schwab. 

He became one, and in 1896 was elected president. 

The young man had worked and learned and bided his 
time. In 1896 he became its president, being preferred by Mr. 
Carnegie to an older official, when it became a matter of 



CHARLES MICHAEL SCHWAB. 683 

choice ; and now that Mr. Carnegie has stepped out and the 
greater steel company has been consummated, Mr. Schwab is 
its president and active head. And so the boy became the 
man merely because he had something to do and did it. 

No man at the immense works is as busy as its head. 
Every morning early, some portion of the works is inspected, 
and at ten he is in his office. Then the day moves on like 
clock work. The mail which needs his personal attention is 
read and comprehended quickly — for quickness to see and 
decide is part of his secret. With his secretary he answers 
every communication that can expect reply. Every appli- 
cation for place is scrupulously attended to. Then there 
are conferences with heads of departments, and visits to 
various parts of the great plant during the remainder of the 
day. He personally inspects the entire works during each 
week. 

On Saturday the heads of the departments, most of them 
young men like himself, lunch with him socially. Absolutely 
no business conversation is allowed at the table. The meal 
over, conference begins, and suggestions and plans are dis- 
cussed carefully. Every important word spoken is taken by 
stenographers present, to be referred to at will afterward. 
On Monday each of his superintendents lunches with his 
associates in the same way, and the results are likewise noted. 
Thus Mr. Schwab becomes the very center of the pulsing 
body of men and machines. He knows both thoroughly and 
controls them — even while he is planning such stupendous 
things as billion-dollar combinations. And all the men asso- 
ciated with him — for Mr. Schwab has no one under him — 
respect and love him. He is their master, not by chance but 
by superior knowledge and capacity — } r et he is their fellow, 
for he has done all their tasks, realizes all their difficulties. 
He knows the mechanic's smallest tool as well as the com- 
pany's bank account. And he gives each man his chance. 
A bit of system will illustrate. 

A new product is planned for. Expense is figured most 
accurately and closely by the heads in conference. The exact 
cost of production is settled upon. Then the matter is placed 
in the hands of the department which must make the article. 
It must produce at the figure decided upon. If the man in 
charge can cheapen its productive cost, he can pocket the 



684 LEADERS OF MEN. 

difference. All that the company exacts of him is the speci- 
fied article at the specified cost price. 

Mr. Schwab believes in work, just enough work, but no 
more. At night he tries to free himself from the day's cares. 
He enjoys his home ; he has a fine library of books — not a 
library of fine books ; the theater attracts him ; he loves 
music. From these he gets his rest and change. Often he 
will spend spare moments with his violin, and he still plays 
the piano, just as he used to for the friars at Loretto. His 
handsome home is hung with chef-d'ceuvres which he has 
chosen, not because they are well known, but because he likes 
them. He is sincere here as at his desk. 

He is just the common man among men, keen, practical 
man of business, careful though daring man in the game of 
finance, but socially considering himself distinctly one of the 
people, — and this, too, is part of his secret. The man appears 
on the surface : a stocky figure dressed like the clean-cut, 
sensible man that he is ; a full, young-looking face, with a 
pair of keen brown eyes that take in everything at a glance ; 
quick, tense walk, and frank, quiet speech, gentle and courte- 
ous in manner, but with a distinct impression of decision and 
firmness in reserve. 

Mr. Schwab is interested in the young men. He is a young 
man himself, — and he understands them. He is very demo- 
cratic — a thorough good fellow when business is out of the 
way. He is a clean man. He uses neither tobacco nor liquors 
to any extent. In fact, he does n't have time. That is another 
of his secrets — that he has time only for the necessary 
things. He perhaps cannot be called an actively religious 
man, and yet he is building two churches, one for his mother 
at Loretto, and one for his wife's mother at Braddock ; has 
given largely to the convent at Cresson, and has built a 
monument at Loretto to Prince Gallitzen. The amount of 
money he has donated to charities it would be difficult to esti- 
mate. He has given very widely and largely, but he does it 
quietly, just as he does everything else, with no ostentation. 
And his feelings regarding his gifts were voiced in a remark 
he made in a speech at the laying of the Braddock Church 
corner stone. 

"It is a small thing," he said, "for a man to sign his 
name to a check while there is money in the bank." 



CHARLES MICHAEL SCHWAB. 685 

He represents the highest development of the salaried 
employee. Other men comparable with him as generals of 
industry have soon graduated from the pay roll to work for 
themselves. Rockefeller. Hill. Spreckles, Mills, Stanford. 
Huntington, Hopkins, and Carnegie all began poor, but all 
turned their energies to putting themselves into a position in 
which everything amassed by their brains would go into their 
own bank deposits. Schwab alone has been content to remain 
a glorified wage earner, cheerfully putting ten millions into 
the pockets of his employers for ever}' million retained by 
himself. 

It is as such a wage earner that he is of such peculiar sig- 
nificance. Technologists may grow enthusiastic over his 
work in connection with Captain Jones in perfecting the 
"metal mixer,*' by which melted iron instead of cold pig is 
used in steel making, and the whole industry is transformed. 
They may admire the bold ingenuity of the devices by which 
a boy enabled his emplo} r ers to undertake the manufacture of 
armor plate in competition with rivals who had spent years 
and millions in constructing "the gigantic special plant then 
considered necessary. But the real value of Mr. Schwab's 
career is in the light it throws upon the possibilities open to 
those vast wage-earning masses, of which he has chosen to 
remain a member. 

It is generally understood that Mr. Schwab does not believe 
in trades unions, as usually managed. Plenty of men who 
have worked their way from poverty to wealth hold similar 
views. Their standpoint is purely selfish. When they were 
making two dollars and fifty cents a week, they would have 
been glad of a union to help them to make more. When they 
are pocketing hundreds of thousands a year, they see no need 
for a union to help anybody else. They oppose the union for 
its merits. Just in so far as it helps the workers, they object 
to it. 

If this were Mr. Schwab's position, it would not be worth 
notice. But his idea is something very different. His objec- 
tion to the union policy is that it discourages ability. He 
wishes to leave the way open for every worker to win, if he 
can, a success like his own. He sees that possibility in the 
new organization of industry. 

To his mind, the trades union of the future is the trust. He 



G86 LEADERS OF MEN. 

sees in that the solution of the whole problem of capital and 
labor, and of the problem of national prosperity as well. His 
theory was explained by himself some time ago in these 
words : — 

" The larger the output, the smaller, relatively, is the cost 
of production. This is a trade axiom. It holds good whether 
the output consists of pins or of locomotives. It is much 
more economical, proportionately, to run three machines 
under one roof than it is to run one. It is cheaper to run a 
dozen than it is to run three, and cheaper still to run a hun- 
dred. Therefore, the larger plant has an undoubted supe- 
riority over the small plant, and this advantage increases 
almost indefinitely as the process of enlargement continues. 
. . . The well managed combination is a direct gain to the 
state. Anyone who doubts this need only consult the foreign 
newspapers. Everywhere, he will find a cry of industrial 
alarm leveled, not at the individual American manufacturer, 
but at the American nation. This is because the combination 
has done for the American state what the individual was 
never able to do — put it in industrial control of the world. 
. . . The capitalist and the laborer are equal sharers in 
the advantages the new scheme offers. Capital finds itself 
more amply protected, and labor finds an easier route to a 
partnership witli capital. To the workingman, the combina- 
tion offers the most feasible scheme of industrial cooperation 
ever presented." 

Mr. Schwab is a socialist in disguise. He recalls the diffi- 
culty a worker found under the old individualistic system in 
securing a foothold in business for himself. His savings 
would not buy a factory, or a partnership in one. The excep- 
tional man could save enough to start a little workshop, 
and he could add to his business from day to day, until with 
good luck he had built up a great industry, but the average 
wage earner could never hope to be his own employer. Now, 
a man with any thrift at all can buy a share of stock. A little 
later he can buy another share. Before he knows it, he is 
perceptibly a partner in the business that employs him. This 
Mr. Schwab believes to be the direction in which evolution is 
going to carry our industrial system. He has given his views 
a dazzling ' ustration in his own person. In his case it has 
been, not n. .rely the purchase of one share at a time out of 



CHARLES MICHAEL SCHWAB. • ;*; 

weekly savings, but the acquisition of blocks of stock as a 
reward for conspicuous ability. The Carnegie idea has been 
to give an interest in the business to the ablest brains in the 
service of the company. That has been also one of the ideas 
through which young Mr. Harmsworth, of England, has been 
enabled to pile up a million for every year of his life. If we 
ever come to the Cooperative Commonwealth, perhaps a statue 
of Schwab may be found along with the effigies of Rockefeller, 
Morgan, and Carnegie in its Westminster Abbey. These 
nationalizes and internationalizers of industry are wiping 
out the competitive system, not only in the United States, but 
in the whole world. For the present, their work has its ugly, 
selfish side, but they are toiling, some of them perhaps un- 
consciously, but some with undoubted appreciation of the 
meaning of their efforts, toward the creation of a gigantic 
industrial organism, in which every human atom will be har- 
moniously related with every other. 

Bellamy's ideal was a community, the products of whose 
industry should be equally divided among all its members. 
Schwab's is a community in which every man can get what he 
earns, and in which earning possibilities are unlimited. Like 
Napoleon, he would open a career to talent. He would have 
a basis of well-paid, comfortable labor, but he would have no 
laboring class. He would have every position in the indus- 
trial world open to any man with the capacity to reach it, and 
he would put no brakes on any man's progress. There would 
be no speed limit for automobiles on his industrial highway. 
Thus he would reconcile the aspirations of ambitious workers 
with the need for the intelligent direction of industry. Instead 
of having a business policy directed by unsympathetic labor 
delegates from outside, he would promote the ablest of those 
laborers, and have them direct the business sympathetic- 
ally from the inside. It would be an interesting plan, even 
in the head of an impecunious professor. It is especially inter- 
esting as the program of a man that controls a business with 
a capital of one billion five hundred million dollars, and a 
yearly income of over one hundred million. 

Charles M. Schwab is a living refutation of the theory that 
a driver of workmen must be a hard, unfeeling tyrant. He is 
bubbling over with sympathy and good humr but he keeps 
a huge industrial army on edge by the force of infectious 



G88 LEADERS OF MEN. 

energy and of perfect organization. A hard overseer may 
make his men afraid to shirk — Mr. Schwab has learned the 
nobler and more profitable art of encouraging every man to 
do his best. 

MANNERS AND DRESS. 

T is well for young men to obtain, at the very start of their 
career, some idea of the value of politeness. Some can- 
not be otherwise than urbane. They are born so. One 
can kick them roundly and soundly, and they will not 
refuse to smile, if it be clone good-naturedly. They escape all 
corners by a necessity of their nature. If their souls had only 
corporeal volume, we could see them making their way 
through a crowd, like little spaniels, scaring nobody, running 
between nobody's legs, but winding along shrinkingly and 
gracefully, seeing a master in every man, and thus flattering 
every man's vanity into good nature ; but really spoiling their 
reputation as reliable dogs, by their undiscriminating and uni- 
versal complaisance. There is a self -f orgetf ulness which is so 
deep as to be below self-respect, and such instances as we meet 
with should be treated compassionately. 

Puppyism is not politeness. The genuine article is as nec- 
essary to success, and particularly to any enjoyable success, 
as integrity, or industry, or any other indispensable quality. 
All machinery ruins itself by friction, without the presence of 
a lubricating fluid. Politeness, or civility, or urbanity, or 
whatever we choose to call it, is the oil which preserves the 
machinery of society from destruction. We are obliged to 
bend to one another — to step aside and let another pass, to 
ignore this and that peculiarity, to speak pleasantly when irri- 
tated, and to do a great many things to avoid abrasion and 
collision. In other words, in a world of selfish interests and 
pursuits, where every man is pursuing his own special good, 
we must mask our real designs in studied politeness, or mingle 
them with real kindness, in order to elevate the society of 
men above the society of wolves. Young men generally 
would doubtless be thoroughly astonished if they could com- 
prehend at a single glance how greatly their personal happi- 
ness, popularity, prosperity, and usefulness depend on their 
manners. 

I know young men who, in the discharge of their duties, 




CHARLES M. SCllw \|: 



MANNERS AND DRESS. 691 

imagine that if they go through with a literal performance 
. they are doing all that they undertake to do. You will never 
see a smile upon their faces, nor hear a genial word of good- 
ellowship from their lips ; and, from the manner in which 
their labor is performed, you would never learn that they 
were engaged in intercourse with human beings. They carry 
the same manner and the same spirit into the countingroom 
that they do into the dog kennel or the stable. Everyone 
hates such men as these, and recoils from all contact with 
them If he has business with them, he closes it as soon as 
possible, and gets out of their presence. A man who hav- 
ing got his vessel under headway on the vovage of life/takes 
a straight course, caring or minding nothing for the' huge 
man-of-war which lies in his path, or the sloop which crosses 
his bow, or the fishing smacks that find work where he seeks 
nothing but a passage, or interposing shoals, rocks, or islands 
will be very sure to get terribly rubbed before he gets through' 
if he even happens to get through at all. 

Servility is to be despised, but true and uniform politeness 
is the glory of any young man. It should be a politeness full 
or frankness and good nature, unobtrusive and constant, and 
uniform in its exhibition to all classes of men. The young 
man who is overwhelmingly polite to a celebrity or a nabob 
and rude to a poor man, because he is a poor man, deserves to 
be. despised. That style of manners which combines self- 
respect with respect for the rights and feelings of others 
especially if it be warmed up by the fires of a genial heart is 
a thing to be coveted and cultivated ; and it is a thin*- that 
produces a good return, alike in cash and comfort. 

The talk of manners introduces us naturally to dress and 
personal appearance. It is the duty of all men, voting and 
old, to make their persons, as far as practicable or possible 
agreeable to those with whom they are thrown into associa- 
tion. By this is meant that they shall not offend by singu- 
larity, nor by slovenliness. Let no man know by your dress 
what your business is ; you dress your person, not your trade. 
\ ou are — if you know enough to mould the fashion of the time 
to your own personal peculiarities —to make it your servant 
and not allow it to be your master. Never dress in extremes' 
Let there always be a hint in your dress that you know the 
prevailing style, but, for the best of reasons, disregard its 



602 LEADERS OF MEN. 

more extreme demands. The best possible impression that 
you can make by your dress is to make no separate impres- 
sion at all ; but so to harmonize its material and shape with 
your personality, that it becomes tributary to the general 
effect ; and so exclusively tributary, that people cannot tell 
after seeing you what kind or color of clothes you wear. 
They will only remember that you look well and dress 
becomingly. 

We may like it or not, but we are judged in this world first 
for what we are, but also as we look ; and a young man's 
common sense should teach him that it is always wise to 
create a good impression. It does much for him and he can- 
not afford to ignore it. Good clothes cannot make a young 
man, but they are a help ; and when carving out a career it is 
only pure justice to himself that he should.take advantage of 
every point offered him. In other words, it is a duty which 
every young man owes himself to be well dressed. But to be 
well dressed does not necessarily imply the highest priced 
clothes, cut according to the latest patterns. It is just as pos- 
sible to be well attired in clothes of moderate cost, so long as 
they are not " loud " or " showy," but quiet and neat. 

The average young fellow undoubtedly errs in this matter 
of dress. With his tastes unfixed, in the majority of cases, 
he goes to either one of two extremes : he either dresses 
shabbily because he claims he cannot afford to do otherwise, 
or he goes to the other extreme and tries to imitate the styles 
affected by the extremists in dress, and necessarily makes 
himself an object of ridicule. 

Clothes are moderate enough in price nowadays to make it 
possible for every young man, no matter how humble his 
income, to be neatly attired. The secret of a neat appear- 
ance in dress does not depend upon the number of suits he 
may have, but upon the manner in which even a single suit is 
taken care of and how it is worn. Many a young man with a 
wardrobe of but two suits of clothes looks neater than 
another who has five or six suits with which to alternate. 
The art of looking well depends, first, upon the choice of a 
suit ; and, second, upon how it is taken care of. If a young man 
has a moderate income he should make it a point to select 
only the quiet patterns of dark colors. Not only is this more 
economical, but it is in better taste than are the lighter and 



MANNERS AND DRESS. 603 

more conspicuous clothes. If a young man will look around 
him a bit, he will find that the successful men of the day are 
always the most quiet dressers. Their clothes are never con- 
spicuous ; they detract rather than attract attention. It is 
only the fop of shallow mind who invites attention by his 
dress. There is a certain class of pictures that requires 
elaborate gilt frames in order to set off the little merit they 
possess ; and likewise are there scores of men who must dress 
conspicuously in order to gain even the most meager atten- 
tion. Men who are least certain of their position always dress 
the showiest. Hence if a young man dresses quietly and 
neatly he pursues not only the best but the only wise course. 
His dress is a pretty accurate reflection of his character, and 
very often he is judged, to a certain extent, by the taste which 
he shows in his clothes. 

But while a young man injures himself by showy dressing, 
he has no business to dress shabbily. Shabby clothes are no 
longer an eccentricity of genius. There are men of genius 
who have achieved deserved fame and substantial success 
who are absolutely indifferent to their appearance. And the 
world overlooks and forgives it. But this is only possible 
with men of commanding genius who are established ; and 
the young man who takes these men as models so far as attire 
goes makes a sorry mistake. It is given to men of high 
position and of established success to follow a great many 
little eccentricities which are not overlooked in a young man 
struggling for a career. 

Aside from the aspect of mere appearance, neatness in 
dress is undoubtedly a great inner and outer factor in a young 
man's success. A well-fitted suit of clothes communicates 
a sense of neatness to the body, and, in turn, this sense of 
neatness of the person is extended to the work in hand. As 
we feel, so unquestionably do we work. Our clothes unmis- 
takably affect our feelings, as any man knows who has 
experienced the different sensation that comes to him when 
attired in a new suit from the feeling when wearing old 
clothes. No employer expects his clerks of moderate incomes 
to dress in the immediate fashion ; but he likes to see them 
neat in appearance. It commends them to his attention. We 
all have an inner consciousness that a young man who keeps 
himself looking neat and clean is more worthy of our con- 



694 LEADERS OF MEN. 

fidence than he who is regardless of his appearance and 
looks soiled and shabby. Neatness always attracts, just as 
shabbiness invariably repulses. 

The value of clean linen to a young man should be partic- 
ularly emphasized. There is no earthly excuse why any 
young fellow should wear soiled collars or cuffs. Soap and 
water are within the reach of the smallest purse, and the 
home or the outer laundry is accessible to all. No single ele- 
ment of his dress cuts more of a figure in a young man's 
success than his linen. However worn may be his clothes, 
his appearance always invites closer proximity when his linen 
is clean. 

We do not wish to be understood as making too much of 
dress as a factor in a young man's life. But it is sufficiently 
important to justify the statement that no young fellow 
anxious for his self-betterment can afford to slight his appear- 
ance. No fair computation can be offered as to what percent- 
age of his income he should expend on his dress. That 
depends altogether too much on circumstances. But he 
should be strongly counseled to dress as well as his means 
allow ; no better, but no worse. Money spent on a neat 
appearance is never wasted with a man. be he young or old. 
The chief danger which the young man has to battle with is 
dressing beyond his means. A tendency towards extravagance 
is never justifiable, no matter what may be his income. Extrav- 
agance is always wasteful. But neither must he economize 
too closely. In a word, he should strive always to look neat ; 
to present the best appearance he can. 

The extreme styles presented in men's clothes are like the 
extreme styles fashioned for women : they should be left for 
those who have large wardrobes. The young man of limited 
wardrobe cannot afford to have anything in it which is in the 
immediate style one year and out of fashion the next year. 
Quiet patterns in clothes, in cravats, in shoes, and in linen 
are always in style. The marvelous combinations we see in 
young men's clothes, of extreme long coats, of light cloths, 
and large patterns in suitings, of pink shirts, white collars, 
and blue cravats, are generally worn by extremists in dress, 
or by those of mediocre tastes whose exhibition of those tastes 
always keeps them in the lower stations of life. These styles 
should never be affected by the young man who wishes to 



MANNERS AND DRESS. 695 

gain the confidence of his superiors in business, or the respect 
of the people in social life whose friendship will be of value 
and benefit to him. A young man, so far as this matter of 
dress is concerned, cannot do better than always to remember 
this one inflexible rule : that the best dressers among men 
follow the same method as do the best dressers among women 
— they dress well, but quietly. And quiet dressing is always 
in good taste. 



:>' ■'•' i 






